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THE STORY 



OF 



THE MIDDLE AGES 



BY 



SAMUEL B. HARDING, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY 



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CHICAGO 

SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 

1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Cupita RfcCE(vEo 

AUG. 28 1901 

Copyright entrv 

CLASSQ_ XXc N« 

COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, 1 90 1, BY 
SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 



PKKSS OF 

Tllb-. HKNKV O. SHi:PARD CC. 

CHICAGO. 



TTPOnRiPnV BT 



»NT, CIIIIAOO 



PREFACE. 

The point of view from which this book is written 
is perhaps sufficiently set forth in the introductory 
chapter, but it may fittingly call for an additional 
word at this point. It is, namely, the point of view of 
one who believes that the child about to undertake the 
I formal study of American history in the seventh and 
eighth grades of our schools, needs first a preliminary 
'^'^tch of the history of earlier times, — especially of 
the Middle Ages, — in order that our own history may 
appear in its true perspective and setting. 

In attempting to make intelligible to children the 
institutions and events of the Middle Ages, the author 
is aware of the magnitude of the task which he has 
essayed. He is, however, firmly of the opinion that 
the difficulty arises frequently not so much from an 
inability on the part of the child to grasp the essential 
ideas underlying medieval relations, as from the lack 
of a clear understanding of these on the part of the 
narrator himself, and the need of finding familiar 
non-technical terms of definition. Whether the diffi- 
culty has been entirely surmounted in this work can 
only be determined by the test of use; but at least no 
pains have been spared in the effort. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

The interest of the book, no doubt, might have 
been enhanced had the author wished to give stories, 
instead of "the story" of the Middle Ages. Detached 
episodes, striking figures, romantic tales, exist in 
plenty to rivet the child's attention and fire his fancy; 
but it has been no part of the plan of this work to 
draw attention to particular persons and events at the 
expense of the whole. "Somehow," writes Walter 
Bagehot of historical reading for children, "the whole 
comes in boyhood; the details later and in manhood. 
The wonderful series going far back to the times of 
the old patriarchs with their flocks and herds, the 
keen-eyed Greek, the stately Roman, the watching 
Jew, the uncouth Goth, the horrid Hun, the settled 
picture of the unchanging East, the restless shifting 
of the rapid West, the rise of the cold and classical 
civilization, its fall, the rough impetuous Middle 
Ages, the vague warm picture of ourselves and home, 
— when did we learn these? Not yesterday nor 
to-day; but long ago in the first dawn of reason, in 
the original flow of fancy. What we learn afterwards 
are but the accurate littlenesses of the great topic, 
the dates and tedious facts. Those who begin late 
learn only these; but the happy first feel the mystic 
associations and the progress of the whole." 

Bloominc.ton, Indiana, 
July, 190 1. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preface , 3 

List of Illustrations ...... 7 

CHAP. 

I. Introduction g 

II. The Ancient Germans « . . . . 12 

III. Breaking the Frontier .21 

IV. The Wanderings of the West-Goths . . 29 
V, End of the Western Empire . . . . ,. 36 

VI. Growth of the Christian Church ... 50 

VII. Rise of the Franks ...... 59 

VIII. Franks and Mohammedans .... 72 

IX. Charlemagne ........ 81 

X. The Growth of Feudalism .... 96 

XI. Deeds of the Northmen 104 

XII. The First Crusade 114 

XIII. Later Crusades 127 

XIV. Life of the Castle . . / o . . . 137 
XV. Life of the Village and Town , . . .150 

. XVI. Life of the Monastery 170 

XVII. Papacy and Empire . . , . , .181 

XVIII. The Hundred Years' War .... 193 

XIX. End "of the Middle Ages ..... 209 

Index ..... .... 221 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

King John of France Taken Prisoner at Poitiers Frontispiece 

PAGE 

An Old German Village 12 

A Hun Warrior 24 

Goths on the March 29 

West-Gothic Tower ........ 34 

Court of the Huns • 40 

Coin of Odoacer 43 

ToMH of Theouoric , , . 46 

Ivory Comb of a Lombard Queen 48 

Bishop on Throne ......... 51 

A Monk ......... « 55 

Franks Crossing the Rhine ...... 60 

Arms of Franks ......... 61 

A Prankish Chief .63 

Merovingian King in Car ....... 70 

The City of Mecca 74 

Charlemagne . . . . , . . ... 82 

Map of Charlemagne's Empire ...... 89 

A Vassal Doing Homage to his Lord .... 99 

Lord and Dependents Feasting loi 

A Viking Ship 104 

Normans Landing in England ...... 112 

A Pilgrim .......... "5 

A Crusader , . . . . 117 

Crusaders on the March 119 

7 



JJSl OI' ILLUSIRA 'JJOi\S. 



Machink I'oK IIurlim; Stones 
Kmght Temj'Lar 
Thk Legend of Bakbarossa . 
Attacking a City 

Movable Tower 

A Castle of the Elkvkniu Ckntiry 
A Lady Hawkinc; 

Arming the Knight 

A Great Feast in the Twklith Century 

Plan of ViLLA(iK 

Plowing ...... 

Harrowing 

Threshing 

Cathedral of Cologne .... 
A Medieval Shop .... 

A Fair in the Thirteenth Ckniury 
A (terman Monastery .... 
A French Cloister ..... 
Monk in Scriptorium .... 
Henry IV. at Canossa ... 
Seizure of Boniface VIII. . 
Archers Shooting at Mark 
A Crossbowman . . . . 

Knkjhts in Battle 

Knight Attacking Foot-soldiers 
Halberds, Bills, and Pikes 
Joan of Arc and her "Voices" 

Early Printers 

Early Cannon 

The Cross-staff 



PAGE 

125 
128 
131 
133 
134 
138 

145 
147 

148 

151 

153 
154 

155 

160 
164 

167 
172^ 

173 

176 

186 

190 

195 

196 

199 

200 
204 
205 
213 

214 
215 



The Story of the Middle Ages. 



Introduction. 

BOYvS and girls — and grown folks also — often turn 
first to the last chapter of a book, before reading 
it, to see how it "ends," At times this is a good idea; 
for when we know the end of a story, we can often 
better understand it as it is told. This then is what 
we will do in this book. We will first see what the 
"end" of the story of the Middle Ages is; then, as we 
read, we shall better understand how that end was 
brought about. 

When Columbus in the year 1492 returned from his 
voyage of discovery, a keen rivalry began among the 
Old World nations for the possession of the New 
World. Expedition followed expedition; vSpaniards, 
Portuguese, French, English, and later the Dutch and 
Swedes, — all began to strive with one another for the 
wealth and dominion of the new-found lands; and 
American history — our own history — begins. 

But who were these Spaniards and Portuguese, these 
Englishmen and Frenchmen, these Dutchmen and 
Swedes? In the old days when the might and power 
of Rome ruled over the world, we hear nothing of 

9 



lo THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

them. Whence liad tliey come? Were they entirely 
new peoples who had had no part in the old world of the 
Greeks and Romans? Were they the descendants of 
the old peoples over whom the Emperors had ruled 
from the city of the Seven Hills? Or did they arise 
by a mingling of the old and the new? Then, if they 
were the result of a mingling, where had the new races 
dwelt during the long years that Rome was spreading 
her empire over the known world? When and how 
had the mingling taken place? What, too, had 
become of 

" The glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome"? 

Why was America not discovered and settled before? 
What were the customs, the ideas, the institutions 
which these peoples brought with them when they 
settled here? In short, what had been the history and 
what was the condition of the nations which, after 
1492, began the struggle for the mastery of the New 
World? 

To such questions it is the aim of this book to give 
an answer. It will try to show how the power of 
Rome fell before the attacks of German barbarians, 
and how, in the long course of the Middle Ages, new 
peoples, new states, a new civilization, arose on the 
ruins of the old. 

At the beginning of the period Rome was old and 
worn out with misgovernment and evil living. But 
planted in this dying Rome there was the new and 
vigorous Christian Church which was to draw up into 
Itself all that was best and strongest of the old world. 
The Germans were rude and uncivilized, but they 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

were strong in mind and body, and possessed some 
ideas about government, women, and the family which 
were better than the ideas of the Romans on these 
subjects. 

When the Germans conquered the Romans, and 
settled within the bounds of the Empire, it might well 
have seemed that the end of the world was come. 
Cities were plundered and destroyed; priceless works 
of art were dashed to pieces ; and the inhabitants of 
many lands were slain or enslaved. For nearly a thou- 
sand years Europe did not entirely recover from the 
shock; and the period which immediately follows the 
invasions of the barbarians is so dreary and sad that 
historians have called it "the Dark Ages." 

But what was best in the old Greek and Roman 
civilization did not wholly perish. The Christian 
Church, too, grew steadily stronger, and sought to 
soften and civilize the rude Germans. The Germans, 
in turn, did not lose their vigor or their good ideas. 
At last from the combination of all these elements a 
new civilization arose, — stronger, better, and capable 
of higher development than the old, — and the Middle 
Ages were past. Then and only then could — and did 
— the new nations, which meanwhile had slowly been 
forming, set out on their careers of discovery and 
exploration which have made our New World possible. 

So, we may say, the Middle Ages were the period 
when Europe became Europe, and made ready to 
found new Europes in America, in Australia, and in 
Africa. It was the growing-time for all the great 
harvest which has come since. 



12 



THE STORY OF THE MJHHLE AGES. 



II 



The Ancient Germans. 

WE must beg-in our story with those new races 
which were to mix their blood with that of 
the i)eoples of the Roman Empire, and form the 




AN OLD GERMAN VII. LAc;!'! 



nations of Europe to-day. These were the ancient 
Germans, the ancestors of the peoples who now speak 
German, English, Dutch, and Scandinavian. They 
lived then, — as part of their descendants still do, — in 



THE ANCIENT GERMANS. 13 

the lands extendin|T^ from the North wSca and the Bal- 
tic on the North, to the Danube River on the South; 
and from the Rhine on the West, to the rivers Elbe 
and Oder on the East. This region is now one of the 
most flourishing- countries in the world, with many- 
great cities and millions of inhabitants. At that time 
it had no cities at all and but few inhabitants. The 
people had just begun to settle down and cultivate the 
soil, where before they had moved from place to 
place to find fresh pasturage for their flocks and better 
hunting. The surface of the country was still almost 
as Nature had made it. Gloomy forests stretched for 
miles and miles where now there are sunny fields, 
and wide and treacherous marshes lay where the 
land now stands firm and solid. 

In this wild country, for many years, the Germans 
had room to live their own life. To the East were the 
Slavs, a people still ruder and more uncivilized than 
themselves. To the West were the Gauls, in what is 
now France. To the South were provinces of the 
Roman Empire, separated from them by the broad, 
stream of the river Danube. 

The Germans, the Gauls, the Slavs, and the Romans, 
— though they did not know it, — might all call them- 
selves cousins; for most of the peoples of Europe are 
descended from one great race, called the Aryans. 
Long before Athens or Rome was built, before the 
Germans had come into this land, before any nation 
had begun to keep a written account of its deeds,' the 
forefathers of these peoples dwelt together somewhere 
in western Asia or eastern Europe. At last, for reasons 
which we cannot know after so great a stretch of time, 



14 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

these Aryan peoples separated and moved away in dif- 
ferent directions. One branch of them entered Italy 
and became the ancestors of the Greeks and Romans. 
Another entered what is now France, and became the 
Gauls whom Caesar conquered. One settled in Ger- 
many, and still others settled in other lands both near 
and far. 

In spite of the kinship between them, however, the 
Germans and Romans were very different in many 
ways. The Romans were short and dark, while the 
Germans were tall — very tall, they seemed to the 
Romans, — with fair skin, lig-ht hair, and clear blue 
eyes. The clothing of the Germans, imlike that of the 
Romans, was made chiefly from the skins of animals. 
Usually it did not cover the whole body, the arms and 
shoulders at least being- left free. When the German 
was in a lazy mood he would sit for days by the fire, 
clad only in a long cloak of skins; then when he 
prepared to hunt or to fight, he would put on close- 
fitting garments and leave his cloak behind. 

The houses in which the Germans lived were mere 
cabins or huts. Nothing was used but wood, and that 
was not planed smooth, but was roughly hewn into 
boards and timbers. Sometimes a cave would be used 
for a dwelling, and often a house of timber would 
have an underground room attached to it; this was for 
warmth in winter and also for protection against their 
enemies. Sometimes in summer the people made huts 
of twigs woven together in much the same way that a 
basket is woven. Such houses were very flimsy, but 
they had the advantage of being easily moved from 
place to place. Often, too, the house sheltered not 



THE ANCIENT GERMANS. IS 

only the family, but the horses and cattle as well, all 
living under one roof. One can imagine that this was 
not a very healthful plan. 

The Germans gained their living partly from hunt- 
ing and partly from tilling the soil. They also 
depended a great deal upon their herds and flocks for 
meat, as well as for milk and the foods which they 
made from milk. The Germans paid great respect to 
their women, and the latter could often by their 
reproaches stop the men when defeated and in flight, 
and encourage them to do battle again. Nevertheless, 
the care of the cattle and the tilling of the soil, as well 
as the house-work, fell chiefly to the women. The 
men preferred to hunt or to fight ; and when not doing 
either, would probably be found by the fire sleeping 
or idling away their time in games of chance. Most 
of the occupations of which we now see so much were 
not known to them. There was hardly any trading 
either among themselves or with other nations. Each 
family made its own things, and made very little more 
than it needed for its own use. The women spun 
and wove linen and other cloth, tanned leather, 
made soap, — which the Greeks and Romans did not 
know, — and a fev/ other things. But all this was only 
for use in their own families. There were no trading 
places, and almost no commerce, except in a few 
things such as skins, and the amber of the Baltic Sea. 
One occupation, however, was considered good enough 
for any man to follow. This was the trade of the 
blacksmith. The skillful smith was highly honored, 
for he not only made tools to work with, but also 
weapons with which to hunt and to fight. 



1 6 Till-: STORY o/' Tni'i MinniJi agics. 

But usually the free man considered it beneath his 
dignity to work in any way. He was a warrior more 
than anything else. The Romans^iad reason to know 
that the Germans were very stubborn fighters; indeed, 
the Romans never did conquer Germany. The Ger- 
mans were not made weak, as the Romans were, by 
indulging in all kinds of luxuries. They lived in the 
open air, they ate plain food, and they did not make 
their bodies tender by too much clothing. In every 
way their habits were more wholesome than those of 
the Romxans; and besides this, each man had a spirit of 
independence that caused him to fight hard to avoid 
capture and slavery. 

At one time, while Augustus was Emperor, three 
legions of the Roman army, under an officer named 
Varus, were entrapped and slain in the German for- 
ests. The shock of this defeat was felt so keenly 
at Rome that long after that the Emperor would 
awake at night from restless sleep, and cry out: 
"Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!" After 
this the Romans learned to be more careful in fighting 
the Germans. The Romans had the advantage of 
better weapons with which to fight, better knowledge 
of how to fight, and greater wealth with which to carry 
on a war. So, in spite of some decided victories over 
the soldiers of the Empire, the Germans were obliged 
for many years to acknowledge Rome as the stronger; 
and Roman soldiers were even stationed in S(;nic pnrts 
of the German territory. 

When the German army was preparing for battle, 
the men arranged themselves so that each line had a 
greater number in it and was longer than the one in 



THE A NCI EN T GERM A NS. i 7 

front. Thus the army formed a sort of wedge, which 
they called the "boar's* head," from its shape. 
Arranged in this manner the army moved forward 
with one grand rush, guarding their sides with large 
wooden shields, and hewing with their swords and 
thrusting with their spears. If the first rush failed to 
dismay the enemy and turn them in flight, there was no 
longer any order or plan of battle. Each man then fought 
for himself, until victory or defeat ended the struggle. 

Among the Germans no man dared to flee from the 
field of battle, for cowardice was punished with death. 
To leave one's shield behind was the greatest of 
crimes, and made a man disgraced in the sight of alL 
Bravery was the chief of virtues, and it was this alone 
which could give a man the leadership of an army. 
The general was chosen for his valor, and he kept his 
position only so long as he continued to show him- 
self brave. He must be an example to all his follow- 
ers and must fight in the front ranks. A general was 
made by his fellow warriors, who raised him upon 
their shields as a sign of their choice. If he proved 
less worthy than they had thought, they could as easily 
make another general in his place. The leader and his 
men were constantly reminded that upon their 
strength and courage depended the safety and happi- 
ness of their wives and children; for their families 
often followed the army to battle, and witnessed the 
combats from rude carts or wagons, mingling their 
shrill cries with the din of battle. 

Times of peace among these early Germans would 
seem to us much like war. Every man carried his 
weapons about with him and used them freely. 



l8 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Human life was held cheap, and a quarrel was often 
settled by the sword. There was no strong gov- 
ernment to punish wrong and protect the weak; so 
men had to protect and help themselves. A man 
was bound to take up the quarrels, or feuds, of his 
family and avenge by blood a wrong done to any of 
his relatives. As a result there was constant fighting. 
Violent deeds were frequent, and their punishment 
was light. If a man injured another, or even com- 
mitted murder, the law might be satisfied and the 
offender excused, by the payment of a fine to the 
injured man, or to his family. 

Some tribes of the (xermans had kings, but others 
had not, and were ruled by persons chosen in the 
meetings of the people, or "folk. " Even among those 
tribes that had kings, the power of the ruler in time 
of peace was not very great. The kings were not 
born kings, but were chosen by the consent of the 
people. Some few families, because they had greater 
wealth, or for some other reason, were looked upon 
with such respect that they were considered noble, and 
kings were chosen from among their number. Yet 
each man stood upon his own merits, too; and neither 
wealth nor birth could keep a king in power if he 
proved evil in rule or weak in battle. The rulers 
decided only the matters that were of small impor- 
tance. When it came to serious matters, such as mak- 
ing war or changing the customs of the tribe, the 
"folk" assembled together decided for itself. In 
their assemblies they showed disapproval by loud 
murmurs; while to signify approval, they clashed their 
shields and spears together. Every free man had the 



THE ANCIENT GERMANS. 19 

right to attend the folk-meeting of his district, and also 
the general assembly of the whole tribe. The power 
of the king was less than that of the assembly, and he 
was subject to it; for the assembly could depose the 
king, as well as elect him. In times of war, however, 
the power of the kings was much increased ; for then 
it was necessary that one man should do the planning, 
and time could not be taken up with assemblies. 

At the period of which we are speaking, the Ger- 
mans did not believe in one God as we do, but in 
many. The names of some of their gods are preserved 
in the names which we have for the days of the week. 
From the god Tins comes Tuesday, from Woden comes 
Wednesday, and from Thor comes Thursday. Tius 
was the god of the heavens, and was at first the chief 
of the gods. Songs were sung in his honor, places 
named for him, and even human beings were sacri- 
ficed to him. Woden was afterward worshiped as the 
god of the sky, and also of the winds. Because he 
controlled the winds, it was natural that he should be 
the special god to whom those people looked who 
depended upon the sea; therefore he became the pro- 
tector of sailors. He was also the god of war, and the 
spear was his emblem. After the worship of Tius died 
out, Woden became the chief god of the Germans. To 
him also there were sacrifices of human beings. Next 
in importance to Woden was Thor, the god of thunder 
and also of the household. His emblem was a ham- 
mer. When it thundered the people said that Thor 
with his hammer was fighting the ice-giants; so he 
was regarded as the enemy of winter, and the giver of 
good crops. 



2 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Besides these chief gods, there were many less 
important ones. Among these were spirits of the for- 
ests and rivers, and the "gnomes" or dwarfs who 
dwelt in the earth, guarding the stores of precious 
metals and jewels which it contains. Long after the 
old religion had come to an end the descendants of the 
ancient Germans remembered these spirits, and stories 
of their tricks and good deeds were handed down from 
father to son. In this way the Germans kept some- 
thing of the old religion in the beautiful fairy tales 
which we still love; and in our Christmas and Easter 
customs we find other traces of their old beliefs and 
customs. 

When missionaries went among them, however, they 
became Christians. This shows one of the greatest 
qualities which they possessed. They were willing 
and able to learn from other peoples, and to change 
their customs to suit new circumstances. Other races, 
like the American Indians, who did not learn so 
readily, have declined and died away when they have 
been brought in contact with a higher civilization. 
But the Germans could learn from the Greeks and 
the Romans; so they grew from a rude, half-barbar- 
ous people, into great and civilized nations. 



L'RKAKJXG THE FRONTIER. 



Ill 

Breaking the Frontier. 

IF yon look at the map of Europe yoa will see two 
great rivers, — the Rhine and the Danube, — flowing 
in opposite directions across the continent, one empty- 
ing into the North Sea and the other into the Black 
Sea. Their mouths are thousands of miles apart; yet 
when you follow up the course of each, you find that 
they come nearer and nearer, until, at their sources, 
the distance between them is no greater than a 
good walker might cover in a day. Thus these two 
rivers almost form a single line across the whole of 
Europe. Each in its lower course is broad and deep, 
and makes a good boundary for the countries on its 
banks. The Roman armies in the old days often 
crossed these rivers and indeed gained victories 
beyond them ; but they found it so hard to keep pos- 
session of what they conquered there, that in the end 
they decided not to try. So for many years the Rhine 
and the Danube rivers formed the northern boundary 
of the Roman Empire. 

In the last chapter you have read something of the 
Germans who lived north and east of this boundary. 
Among these peoples there was one which was to take 
the lead in breaking through the frontier and bring- 



2 2 THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

ing about the downfall of the great empire of Rome. 
This was the nation of the Goths. 

In the latter part of the fourth century after Christ, 
the Goths dwelt along the shores of the Black Sea 
and just north of the lower course of the Danube 
River. There they had been dwelling for more than 
a hundred years. According to the stories which 
the old men had told their sons, and the sons had told 
their children after them, the Goths at one time had 
dwelt far to the North, on the shores of the Baltic. 
Why they left their northern home, we do not know. 
Perhaps it was because of a famine or a pestilence 
which had come upon the land ; perhaps it was because 
of a victory or a defeat in w^ar with their neighbors ; 
perhaps it was because of the urging of some great 
leader, cr because of an oracle of their gods. 

At any rate, the Goths did leave their homes by the 
Baltic Sea, to wander southward through the forests 
of what is now Western Russia. After many years, 
they had arrived in the sunnier lands about the 
Danube. There they had come in contact with the 
Romans for the first time. For a while there had 
been much fighting between the two peoples; but at 
last the Goths had been allowed to settle down quietly 
in these lands, on condition that they should not cross 
the river Danube and enter the Roman territory. 
And there they had dwelt ever since, living peaceably, 
for the most part, alongside their Roman neighbors 
and learning from them many civilized ways. 

The greatest thing that the Goths learned from the 
Romans was Christianity. Little by little they ceased 
worshiping Thor and Woden, and became Christians. 



BREAKING THE ERONTIER. 23 

This was chiefly due to one of their own men, named 
Ulfilas, who spent a number of years at Constanti- 
nople, the Roman capital of the world. There he 
became a Christian priest ; and when he returned to 
his people he began to work as a missionary among 
them. Ulfilas had many difficulties to overcome in 
this work ; but the chief one was that there was no 
Bible, or indeed any books, in the Gothic language. 
So Ulfilas set to work to translate the Bible from the 
Greek language into the Gothic. This was a hard 
task in itself; but it was made all the harder by the 
fact that before he could begin he had to invent an 
alphabet in which to write down the Gothic words. 
After the translation was made, too, he had to teach 
his people how to read it. In all this Ulfilas was suc- 
cessful; and under his wise and patient teaching the 
Goths rapidly became Christians. At the same time 
they were becoming more civilized, and their rulers 
were beginning to build up a great kingdom about the 
Danube and the Black Sea. Suddenly, however, an 
event happened which was to change all their later 
history, and indeed the history of the world as well. 
This was the coming of the Huns into Europe. 

The Huns were not members of the great Aryan 
family of nations; and indeed the Germans and the 
Romans thought that they were scarcely human at all. 
They were related to the Chinese ; and their strange 
features and customs, and their shrill voices, were new 
to Europe. An old Gothic writer gives us a picture of 
them. "Nations whom they could never have 
defeated in fair fight," he says, "fled in horror from 
those frightful faces — if, indeed, I may call them 



24 



THE STORY OF THIi MIDDLE AGES. 



facGvS; for they are nothing but shapeless black pieces 
of flesh, with little points instead of eyes. They have 
no hair on their cheeks or chins. Instead, the sides 
of their faces show deep furrowed scars; for hot irons 
are applied, with characteristic ferocity, to the face of 




A HUN WARRIUR. 



every boy that is born among them, so that blood is 
drawn from his cheeks before he is allowed to taste his 
mother's milk. The men are little in size, but quick 
and active in their motions; and they are especially 
skillful in riding. They are broad-shouldered, are 
good at the use of the bow and arrows, have strong 



BREAKING THE ERONTIER. 25 

necks, and are always holding their heads high in their 
pride. To sum up, these beings under the forms of 
men hide the fierce natures of beasts." 

The Goths were brave, but they could not stand 
against such men as these. The East-Goths, who 
dwelt about the Black Sea, were soon conquered, and 
for nearly a century they continued to be subject to 
the Huns, The West-Goths, who dwelt about the 
Danube, fled in terror before the countless hordes of 
the new-comers, and sought a refuge within the bound- 
aries of the Roman Empire. As many as two hun- 
dred thousand fighting men, besides thousands of old 
men, women, and children, gathered on the north bank 
of the Danube, and "stretching out their hands from 
afar, with loud lamentations," begged the Roman offi- 
cers to permit them to cross the river and settle in the 
Roman lands. 

The Roman Emperor, after much discussion, granted 
their request; but only on hard conditions, for he 
feared to have so many of the Goths in the land. The 
Gothic boys, he said, must be given up to the Romans 
as hostages, and the men must surrender their arms. 
The situation of the Goths was so serious that they 
were forced to agree to these terms ; but many of 
them found means to bribe the Roman officers, to 
let them keep their arms with them. At last the 
crossing began ; and for many days an army of boats 
was kept busy ferrying the people across the stream, 
which at this point was more than a mile wide. 

In this way the West-Goths were saved from the 
Huns; but they soon found that it was only to suffer 
many injuries at the hands of the Roman officers. 



26 THE STOR } ' OF THE MIDDLE A GES. 

The emperor had given orders that the Goths were to 
be fed and cared for until they could be settled on 
new lands; but the Roman officers stole the food 
intended for them, and oppressed them in other ways. 
Some of the Goths, indeed, fell into such distress that 
they sold their own children as slaves in order to get 
food. 

This state of affairs could not last long with so war- 
like a people as the Goths. One day, in the midst of a 
banquet which the Roman governor was giving to 
their leader, an outcry was heard in the palace-yard, 
and the news came that the Goths were being attacked. 
At once the Gothic leader drew his sword, saying he 
would stop the tumult, and went out to his men. 

From that time war began between the Romans and 
the West-Goths. About a year after this (in the year 
378 A.D.) a great battle was fought near Adrianople, 
a city which lies about one hundred and forty miles 
northwest of Constantinople. The Emperor Valens 
was himself at the head of the Roman army. His flat- 
terers led him to believe that there could be no doubt 
of his success; so Valens rashly began the battle 
without waiting for the troops that were coming to 
assist him. The Romans were at a disadvantage 
besides. They were hot and tired, and their horses 
had had no food; the men, moreover, became crowded 
together into a narrow space where they could neither 
form their lines, nor use their swords and spears with 
effect. The victory of the Goths was complete. The 
Roman cavalry fled at the first attack; then the 
infantry were surrounded and cut down by thousands. 
More than two-thirds of the Roman army perished, 



BREAKING THE FRONTIER. 27 

and with them perished the Emperor Valens — no one 
knows just how. 

The effects of this defeat were very disastrous for 
the Romans. Before this time the Goths had been 
doubtful of their power to defeat the Romans in the 
open field. Now they felt confidence in themselves, 
and were ready to try for new victories. And this 
was not the worst. After the battle of Adrianople 
the river Danube can no longer be considered the 
boundary of the Empire. The Goths had gained a 
footing within the frontier and could wander about at 
will. Other barbarian nations soon followed their 
example, and then still others came. As time went 
on, the Empire fell more and more into the hands of 
the barbarians. 

These effects were not felt so much at first because 
the new Emperor, Theodosius, was an able man, and 
was wise enough to see that the best way to treat the 
Goths was to make friends of them. This he did, 
giving them lands to till, and taking their young men 
into the pay of his army; so during his reign the 
Goths were quiet, and even helped him to fight his 
battles against his Roman enemies. One old chief, 
who had remained an enemy of the Romans, was 
received with kindness by Theodosius. After seeing 
the strength and beauty of the city of Constantinople, 
he said one day: *'This Emperor is doubtless a god 
upon earth ; and whoever lifts a hand against him is 
guilty of his own blood." 

But the wise and vigorous rule of Theodosius was a 
short one, and came to an end in the year 395. After 
that the Roman Empire was divided into an Eastern 



28 THE STORY OF I ///■: MinDlJC AGES. 

Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, and a 
Western Empire, with its capital at Rome. After 
that, too, the friendly treatment of the Goths came to 
an end, and a jealous and suspicious policy took its 
place. Moreover, a new ruler, named Alaric, had 
just been chosen by the Goths. He was a fiery young 
prince, and was the ablest ruler that the West-Goths 
ever had. He had served in the Roman armies, and 
had there learned the Roman manner of making war. 
He was ambitious, too; and when he saw that the 
Empire was weakened by division, and by the folly of 
its rulers, he decided that the time had come for 
action. So, as an old Gothic writer tells us, "the new 
King took counsel with his people and they determined 
to carve out new kingdoms for themselves, rather 
than, through idleness, to continue the subjects of 
others." 



THE WANDERINGS OF THE WEST-GOTHS. 29 



IV 

The Wanderings of the West-Goths. 

Up to this time the Goths had entered only a little 
way into the lands of the Empire. Now they 
were to begin a series of wanderings that took them 
into Greece, into Italy, into Gaul, and finally into the 




GOTHS ON THE MARCH. 



Spanish peninsula, where they settled down and 
established a power that lasted for nearly three hun- 
dred years. 

Their leader, Alaric, was wise enough to see that 
the Goths could not take a city so strongly walled as 
Constantinople. He turned his people aside from the 
attack of that place, and marched them to the plunder 



30 THE STORY OF THE MID DEE AGES. 

of the rich provinces that lay to the South. There 
they came into lands that had long been famous in the 
history of the world. Their way first led them 
through Macedonia, whence the great Alexander had 
set out to conquer the East. At the pass of Ther- 
mopylae, more than eight hundred years before, a 
handful of heroic Greeks had held a vast army at bay 
for three whole days ; but now their feebler descend- 
ants dared not attempt to stay the march of Alaric. 
The city of Athens, beautiful with marble buildings 
and statuary, fell into the hands of the Goths without 
a blow. It was forced to pay a heavy ransom, and 
then was left "like the bleeding and empty skin of a 
slaughtered victim." 

From Athens Alaric led his forces by the isthmus of 
Corinth into the southern peninsula of Greece. City 
after city yielded to the conqueror without resistance. 
Everywhere villages were burned, cattle were driven 
off, precious vases, statues, gold and silver ornaments 
were divided among the barbarians, and multitudes of 
the inhabitants were slain or reduced to slavery. 

In all the armies of the Roman Empire, at this time, 
there was but one general who was a match for Alaric 
in daring and skill. He too was descended from 
the sturdy barbarians of the North. His name was 
Stilicho, and he was now sent by the Emperor of the 
West to assist the Eastern Emperor. He succeeded 
in hemming in the Goths, at first, in the rocky valleys 
of Southern Greece. But the skill and perseverance 
of Alaric enabled him to get his men out of the trap, 
while his enemies feasted and danced in enjoyment of 
their triumph. Then the Eastern Emperor made 



THE WANDERINGS OF THE WEST-GOTHS. 31 

Alaric the ruler of one of the provinces of the Empire, 
and settled his people on the eastern shores of the 
Adriatic Sea. In this way he hoped that the Goths 
might again be quieted and the danger turned aside. 
But Alaric only used the position he had won to gather 
stores of food, and to manufacture shields, helmets, 
swords, and spears for his men, in preparation for new 
adventures. 

When all was ready, Alaric again set out, taking 
with him the entire nation of the West-Goths — men, 
women, and children — together with all their property 
and the booty which they had won in Greece. Now 
their march was to the rich and beautiful lands of 
Italy, where Alaric hoped to capture Rome itself, and 
secure the treasures which the Romans had gathered 
from the ends of the earth. But the time had not yet 
come for this. Stilicho was again in arms before him 
in the broad plains of the river Po. From Gaul, from 
the provinces of the Rhine, from far-off Britain, troops 
were hurried to the protection of Italy. On every side 
the Goths were threatened. Their long-haired chiefs, 
scarred with honorable wounds, began to hesitate ; 
but their fiery young King cried out that he was 
resolved "to find in Italy either a kingdom or a 
grave ! ' ' 

At last while the Goths were piously celebrating the 
festival of Easter, the army of Stilicho suddenly 
attacked them. The Goths fought stubbornly; but 
after a long and bloody battle Alaric was obliged to 
lead his men from the field, leaving behind them the 
slaves and the booty which they had won. Even then 
Alaric did not at once give up his plan of forcing his 



32- THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

way to Rome. But his men were discouraged; hun- 
ger and disease attacked them; their allies deserted 
them ; and at last the young King was obliged to lead 
his men back to the province on the Adriatic. 

For six years Alaric now awaited his time; while 
Stilicho, meanwhile, beat back other invaders who 
sought to come into Italy. But the Western Emperor 
was foolish, and thought the danger was past. He 
listened to the enemies of Stilicho, and quarreled with 
him; and at last he had him put to death. At once 
Alaric planned a new invasion. Barbarian warriors 
from all lands, attracted by his fame, flocked to his 
standard. The friends of Stilicho, also, came to his 
aid. The new generals in Italy proved to be worth- 
less; and the foolish Emperor shut himself up in fear 
in his palace in the northern part of the peninsula. 
Alaric meanwhile did not tarry. On and on he 
pressed, over the Alps, past the plains of the Po, past 
the palace of the Emperor, on to the "eternal city" of 
Rome itself. 

In the old days, the Romans had been able to con- 
quer Italy and the civilized world, because they were 
a brave, sturdy people, with a genius for war and for 
government. But long centuries of unchecked rule 
had greatly weakened them. Now they led evil and 
unhealthy lives. They neither worked for themselves, 
nor fought in their country's cause. Instead, they 
spent their days in marble baths, at the gladiatorial 
fights and wild beast shows of the theaters, and in 
lounging about the Forum. 

In the old days Hannibal had thundered at the gates 
of Rome in vain ; but it was not to be so now with 



THE WANDERINGS OF THE WEST-GOTHS. Zl 

Alaric. Three times in three successive years he 
advanced to the siege of the city. The first time he 
blockaded it till the people cried out in their hunger 
and were forced to eat loathsome food. Still no help 
came from the Emperor, and when they tried to over- 
awe Alaric with the boast of the numbers of their city, 
he only replied: "The thicker the hay the easier it is 
mowed." 

When asked what terms he would give them, Alaric 
demanded as ransom all their gold, silver, and pre- 
cious goods, together with their slaves who were of 
barbarian blood. In dismay they asked: "And what 
then will you leave to us?" "Your lives," he grimly 
replied. 

Alaric, however, was not so hard as his word. On 
payment of a less ransom than he had at first 
demanded, he consented to retire. But when the fool- 
ish Emperor, secure in his palace in Northern Italy, 
refused to make peace, Alaric advanced once more 
upon the doomed city, and again it submitted. This 
time Alaric set up a mock-Emperor of his own to rule. 
But in a few months he grew tired of him, and over- 
turned him with as little thought as he had shown in 
setting him up. As a great historian tells us of this 
Emperor, he was in turn "promoted, degraded, 
insulted, restored, again degraded, and again insulted, 
and finally abandoned to his fate." 

In the year 410 a.d., Alaric advanced a third time 
upon the city. This time the gates of Rome were 
opened by slaves who hoped to gain freedom through 
the city's fall. For the first time since the burning of 
Rome by the Gauls, eight hundred years before, the 



34 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



Romans now saw a foreign foe within their gates — 
slaying, destroying, plundering, committing endless 
outrages upon the people and their property. To the 
Romans it seemed that the end of the world was surely 
at hand. 

At the end of the sixth day Alaric and his Goths 
came forth from the city, carrying their booty and 
their captives with them. They now marched into 
the south of Italy, destroying all 
who resisted and plundering what 
took their fancy. In this way they 
came into the southernmost part. 
There they began busily preparing 
to cross over into Sicily, to plunder 
that fertile province. But this was 
not to be. In the midst of the prep- 
arations, their leader Alaric — "Alar- 
ic the Bold," as they loved to call 
him — suddenly sickened. Soon he 
grew worse; and after an illness of 
only a few days, he died, leaving the 
Goths weakened by the loss of the 
greatest king they were ever to know. 
Alaric's life had been one of the strangest in his- 
tory; and his burial was equally strange. His follow- 
ers wished to lay him where no enemy might disturb 
his grave. To this end they compelled their captives 
to dig a new channel for a little river near by, and 
turn aside its waters. Then, in the old bed of the 
stream, they buried their beloved leader, clad in his 
richest armor, and mounted upon his favorite war 
horse. When all was finished, the stream was turned 




WEST- GOTHIC TOWER. 



THE WANDERINGS OF THE WEST-GOTJIS. 35 

back into its old channel, and the captives were slain, 
in order that they might not reveal the place of the 
bnrial. And there, to this day, rest the bones of 
Alaric, the West-Gothic King. 

Of the West-Goths after the death of Alaric, we 
need say very little. The foolish Emperor of the West 
remained foolish to the end; but his advisers now saw 
that something must be done to get rid of the bar- 
barians. The new leader of the Goths, too, was a wise 
and moderate man. He saw that his people, though 
they could fight well, and overturn a state, were not 
yet ready to form a government of their own. "I 
wish," he said, "not to destroy, but to restore and 
maintain the prosperity of the Roman Empire." 
Other barbarians had meanwhile pressed into the 
Empire; so it was agreed that the Goths should march 
into Gaul and Spain, drive out the barbarians who had 
pushed in there, and rule the land in the name of the 
Emperor of the West. This they did; and there they 
established a power which became strong and pros- 
perous, and lasted until new barbarians from the 
North, and the Moors from Africa, pressed in upon 
them, and brought, at the same time, their kingdom 
and their history to an end. 



36 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



V 

i 

End of the Western Empire. 

WHILE the West-Goths were winning lands and 
booty within the Empire, the other Germans 
could not long remain idle. They saw that the legions 
had been recalled from the frontiers in order to guard 
Italy. They saw their own people suffering from 
hunger and want. Behind them, too, they felt the 
pressure of other nations, driving them from their 
pastures and hunting grounds. 

vSo the news of Rome's weakness and Alaric's vic- 
tories filled other peoples with eagerness to tr}^ their 
fortunes in the Southern lands. Before the West- 
Goths had settled down in Spain, other tribes had 
begun to stream across the borders of the Empire, 
Soon the stream became a flood, and the flood a 
deluge. All Germany seemed stirred up and hurled 
against the Empire. Wave after wave swept south- 
ward. Horde after horde appeared within the limits 
of the Empire, seeking lands and goods. For two 
hundred years this went on. Armies and nations 
went wandering up and down, burning, robbing, slay- 
ing, and making captives. It was a time of confusion, 
suffering, and change; when the "uncouth Goth," the 
"horrid Hun," and wild-eyed peoples of many names, 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 37 

Struggled for the lands of Rome. They sought only 
their own gain and advantage, and it seemed that 
everything was being overturned and nothing built 
up to take the place of what was destroyed. But 
this was only in seeming. Unknowingly, these nations 
were laying the foundations of a new civilization and 
a new world. For out of this mixing of peoples and 
institutions, this blending of civilizations, arose the 
nations, the states, the' institutions, of the world of 
to-day. 

In following the history of the West-Goths we have 
seen that some of these peoples had preceded the 
Goths into Spain. These were a race called the Van- 
dals. They too were of German blood. At one time 
they had dwelt on the shores of the Baltic Sea, near 
the mouth of the river Elbe. From there they had 
wandered southward and westward, struggling with 
other barbarian tribes and with the remaining troops 
of Rome's imperial army. After many hard-fought 
contests they had crossed the river Rhine. They had 
then struggled through Gaul, and at last had reached 
Spain. Now they were to be driven from that land, 
too, by the arrival of the West-Goths. 

Just at this time the governor of the Roman province 
of Africa rebelled against the Emperor's government. 
To get assistance against the Romans, he invited the 
Vandals to come to Africa, promising them lands and 
booty. The Vandals needed no second invitation. The 
Strait of Gibraltar, which separates the shores of 
Spain from Africa, is only fifteen miles wide; but 
when once the Vandals were across that strait, they 
were never to be driven back again. 



38 THE STOR Y OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Twenty-five thousand warriors, tog-ether with their 
women, children, and the old men, came at the call of 
the rebellious governor. There they set up a king- 
dom of their own on Roman soil. A cruel, greedy 
people they were, but able. From their capital, — the 
old city of Carthage, — their pirate ships rowed up and 
down the Mediterranean, stopping now at this place 
and now at that, wherever they saw a chance for 
plunder. Their King was the most crafty, the most 
treacherous, the most merciless of the barbarian kings. 

"Whither shall we sail?" asked his pilot one day, as 
the King and his men set out. "Guide us," said the 
King, "wherever there is a people with whom God is 
angry." 

The most famous of the Vandal raids was the one 
which they made on the city of Rome, forty- five years 
after it had been plundered by Alaric. The rulers of 
the Romans were as worthless now as they had been 
at the earlier day. Again, too, it was at the invitation 
of a Roman that the Vandals invaded Roman territory. 
No defence of the city was attempted; but Leo, the 
holy bishop of Rome, went out with his priests, and 
tried to soften the fierceness of the barbarian King. 
For fourteen days the city remained in the hands of 
the Vandals; and it was plundered to their hearts' 
content. Besides much rich booty which they carried 
off, many works of art were broken and destroyed. 
Because of such destruction as this, the name "Van- 
dal" is still given to any one who destroys beautiful or 
useful things recklessly, or solely for the sake of 
destroying them. 

Another of the restless German peoples were the 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 39 

BuRGUNDiANS, They, too, had once dwelt in the North 
of Germany, and had crossed the river Rhine in com- 
pany with the Vandals. Gradually they had then 
spread southward into Gaul; and the result was the 
founding of a kingdom of the Burgiindians in the val- 
ley of the Rhone River, From that day to this the 
name Burgundy, — as kingdom, dukedom, county, 
province, — has remained a famous one in the geog- 
raphy of Europe. But this people was never able to 
grow into a powerful and independent nation. 

The Angles and Saxons who conqiiered Britain were 
others of these peoples. They first settled in the 
island (so the story runs) on the invitation of the 
people of Britain. The Britons had lived so long 
under Roman rule that they had learned the ways of 
their masters, and had forgotten how to fight. So, 
when wild tribes of Ireland and Scotland came down 
from the West and North to attack them, the Britons 
were in an evil situation. To the Roman commander 
in Gaul they wrote : "The barbarians drive us to the 
sea; the sea drives us back to the barbarians. 
Between them we are exposed to two sorts of death ; 
we are either slain or drowned." When they found 
that the Romans were no longer able to aid them, the 
Britons asked help from a roving company of Saxons 
who had come in their long ships to the British shores. 
When the Angles and Saxons had once got a foothold, 
they proceeded to conquer the island for themselves. 
Thus the fairest portion of it came to be called Angle- 
land or England. It was only after two centuries of 
hard fighting, however, that the conquest was com- 
pleted. In the West the Britons long continued to 



40 



TUK STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



keep their independence; and there, the "Welsh" or 
* 'foreigners" (as they were styled by the Saxons) 
continued to use their own language, to follow their 

own customs, and 
to obey their own 
Princes for hundreds 
of years. 

While the Germans 
were finding new 
homes in Roman ter- 
ritory, the restless 
Huns were ever 
pressing in from the 
rear, driving them 
on and taking their 
lands as they left. 
At the time when 
the Va n d a 1 s were 
establishing their 
kingdom in Africa, 
and the Saxons were 
just beginning to 
come into Britain, a 
great King arose 
among the Huns. 
His name was At- 
tila. Though he was a great warrior and ruler, he 
was far from being a handsome man. He had a large 
head, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, 
broad shoulders, and a short square body. 

The chief god of the Huns was a god of war. As 
they did not know how to make statues or images of 




COURT OF THE HUNS. 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 41 

him, they represented him by a sword or dagger. 
One day a shepherd found an old sword sticking out 
of the ground, and brought it to Attila. This, the 
King said, was a sign that the whole earth should be 
ruled over by him. 

Whether he believed in this sign himself or not, 
Attila used his own sword so successfully that he 
formed the scattered tribes of the Huns into a great 
nation. By wars and treaties he succeeded in estab- 
lishing a vast empire, including all the peoples from 
the river Volga to the river Rhine. The lands of the 
Eastern Empire, too, were wasted by him, even up to 
the walls of Constantinople. The Empire was forced 
to pay him tribute; and an Emperor's sister sent him 
her ring, and begged him to rescue her from the con- 
vent in which her brother had confined her. 

In the year 451 a.d., Attila gathered up his wild 
horsemen, and set out from his wooden capital in the 
valley of the Danube. Southward and westward they 
swept to conquer and destroy. It is said that Attila 
called himself the "Scourge of God." At any rate his 
victims knew that ruin and destruction followed in his 
track ; and where he had passed, they said, not a blade 
of grass was left growing. On and on the Huns 
passed, through Germany, as far as Western Gaul; and 
men expected that all Europe would fall under the 
rule of this fierce people. 

This, however, did not come to pass. Near the city of 
Chalons, in Eastern France, a great battle was fought, 
in which Romans and Goths fought side by side against 
the common foe, and all the peoples of Europe seemed 
engaged in one battle. Rivers of blood, it was 



42 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

said, flowed through the field, and whoever drank of 
their waters perished. At the close of the first day, 
the victory was still uncertain. On the next day 
Attila refused to renew the battle; and when the 
Romans and Goths drew near his camp, they found it 
silent and empty. The Huns had slipped away in the 
night, and returned to their homes on the Danube. 

This was one of the decisive battles in the world's 
history, for it saved Europe from the Huns. Many 
legends came to cluster about it, and ages later men 
told how, each year on the night of the battle, the 
spirits of Goths and Huns rose from their graves, and 
fought the battle over again in the clouds of the upper 
air. 

The next year Attila came again, with a might}^ 
army, into the Roman lands. This time he turned 
his attention to Italy. A city lying at the head of the 
Adriatic was destroyed; and its people then founded 
A'enice on the isles of the sea, that they might thence- 
forth be free from such attacks. Perhaps Attila 
might have pressed on to Rome and taken it, too, as 
Alaric had done, and as the Vandals were to do three 
years later. But strange misgivings fell upon him. 
Leo, the holy bishop of Rome, appeared in his court 
and warned him off. Attila, therefore, retreated, and 
left Rome untouched. Within two years afterward 
he died; and then his great empire dropped to pieces, 
and his people fell to fighting once more among them- 
selves. In this way Christian Europe was delivered 
from one of the greatest dangers that ever threatened 
it. 

Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Britain, had now been lost 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 43 

by the Romans; but amid all these troubles, the 
imperial o^overnment, both in the East and in the 
West, still went on. In the West the power had fallen 
more and more into the hands of chiefs of the 
Roman army. These men were often barbarians by 
blood, and did not care to be emperors themselves. 
Instead, however, they set np and pulled down 
emperors at will, as Alaric had once done. 

In the year 476 a.d. — just thirteen hundred years 
before the signing of our Declaration of Independ- 
ence, — the Euiperor who was then ruling in the West 
was a boy of tender years, named Romulus Augustu- 
lus. He bore the names of the 
first of the kings of Rome, and of 
the first of the emperors; but he 
was to be the last of either. A new 
leader had now arisen in the army,— ^oin of odoacer. 
a gigantic German, named Odoacer. 
When Odoacer was about to come into Italy to enter 
the Roman army, a holy hermit had said to him: 
''Follow out your plan, and go. There you will soon 
be able to throw away the coarse garment of skins 
which you now wear, and will become wealthy and 
powerful." He had followed this advice, and had 
risen to be the commander of the Roman army. The 
old leader, who had put Romulus Augustulus on the 
throne, was now slain by him, and. the boy was then 
quietly put aside. 

Odoacer thus made himself ruler of Italy; but he 
neither took the name of Emperor himself, nor gave 
it to any one else. He sent messengers instead to 
the Emperor of the East, at Constantinople, and laid 




44 THE SrORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

at his feet the crown and purple robe. He said, in 
actions, if not in words: "One Emperor is enough 
for both East and West. I will rule Italy in your 
name and as your agent." 

This is sometimes called the fall of the Western 
Empire; and so it was. Yet there was not so very 
much change at first. Odoacer ruled in Italy in much 
the same way as the Emperors had done, except that 
his rule was better and stronger. 

After sixteen years Odoacer was overthrown, and a 
new ruler arose in his place. This was Theodoric, the 
King of the East-Goths. From the days of the battle 
of Adiianople to the death of Attila, this people had 
been subject to the Huns. At the battle of Chalons 
they had fought on the side of the Huns, and against 
their kinsmen, the West-Goths. Now, however, they 
were free; and a great leader had arisen among them 
in the person of Theodoric, the descendant of a long 
line of Gothic kings. 

When Theodoric was a young boy, he had been sent 
as a hostage to Constantinople, where he had lived for 
ten years. There he had learned to like the cultured 
manners of the Romans, but he had not forgotten how 
to fight. When he had returned home, a handsome lad 
of seventeen, he had gathered together an army, and 
without guidance from his father, had captured an 
important city. This act showed his ability; and 
when his father died he was acknowledged as the King 
of his people. He was a man of great strength and 
courage ; he was also wise and anxious for his people 
to improve. For some years his people had been wan- 
dering up and down in the Eastern Empire: but they 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 45 

were unable to master that land because of Constanti- 
nople's massive walls. So, with the consent of the 
Emperor, Theodoric now decided to lead his East- 
Goths into Italy, drive Odoacer from the land, and 
settle his people there. 

The Goths set out over the Eastern Alps, 
two hundred thousand strong. With them went 
their wives and children, their slaves and cattle, 
and behind came twenty thousand lumbering ox- 
carts laden with their goods. But Odoacer proved a 
stubborn fighter. Several hard battles had to be 
fought, and a siege three years long had to be laid to 
his capital before he was beaten. Then Theodoric, 
for almost the first and last time in his life, did a mean 
and treacherous act. His conquered enemy v^as 
invited to a friendly banquet; and there he was put 
to death with his own sword. In this way Theodoric 
completed the conquest that made him master of the 
whole of Italy, together with a large territory to the 
North and East of the Adriatic Sea. 

For thirty-three years after that, Theodoric ruled 
over the kingdom of the East-Goths, as a wise and 
able king. Equal justice was granted to all, whether 
they were Goths or Italians; and Theodoric sought in 
every way to lead his people into a settled and civi- 
lized life. The old roads, aqueducts, and public build- 
ings were repaired; and new works in many places 
were erected. Theodoric was not only a great warrior 
and statesman; he was also a man of deep and wide 
thought. If any man and any people were suited to 
build up a new kingdom ont of the ruins of the 
Empire, and end the long period of disorder and con- 



46 



TllK SrORY OF rilE MIDDLE AGES. 



fusion which wc call the Dark Ages, it would seem 
that it was Theodoric, and his East-Goths. But no 
sooner was Theodoric dead, than his kingdom began 
to fall to pieces. 

The Eastern Empire had now passed into the hands 







TOMB OF THEODORIC, 



of an able Emperor, who is renowned as a conqueror, 
a builder, and a law-giver. His name was Justinian; 
and he was served by men as great as himself. Under 
their skillful attacks, mucli of the lands which had 
been lost were now won back. The Vandal kingdom 
in Africa was overturned; the islands of Sicily, 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 4/ 

Corsica, and vSardinia were recovered; and at last, 
after years of hard fighting-, the East-Goths too were 
conquered. The last remnant of that race then wan- 
dered north of the Alps, and disappeared from history. 

It was only for a little while, however, that the 
Eastern Emperor was able once more to rule all Italy. 
Within thirteen years a new Germanic people appeared 
on the scene, — the last to find a settlement within the 
Empire. These were the Lombards, or " Langobards, " 
as they were called from their long beards. Ten 
generations before, according to their legends, a wise 
queen had led their race across the Baltic Sea, from 
what is now Sweden, to Germany. Since then they 
had gradually worked their way south, until now they 
were on the borders of Italy. The northern parts of 
the peninsula at this time were almost uninhabited, 
as a result of years of war and pestilence. The resist- 
ance to the Lombards, therefore, was very weak; and 
the whole valley of the river Po — thenceforth to this 
day called "Lombardy" — passed into their hands 
almost at a blow. 

These Lombards were a rude people and but little 
civilized, when they first entered Italy. It was not 
until some time after they had settled there, that they 
even became Christians. A wild story is told of the 
King who led them into Italy. He had slain with his 
own hand the King of another German folk, and from 
his enemy's skull he had made a drinking cup, 
momited in gold. His wife was the daughter of the 
King he had slain. Some time after, as he sat long at 
the table in his capital, he grew boisterous; and send- 
ing for the cup, he forced his Queen to drink from it 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



bidding her "drink joyfully with her father." At this 
the Queen's heart was filled with grief and anger, and 
she plotted how she might revenge her father upon 
her husband. So, while the King slept one night, she 
caused an armed man to creep into the room and slay 
him. In this way she secured her revenge; but she, 
and all who had helped her, came to evil ends, — for, 
as an old writer says, "the hand of Heaven was upon 
them for doing so foul a deed." 

The Lombards were net so strongly united as most 

of the Germans, nor was 
their form of government 
so highly developed. 
Many independent bands 
of Lombards settled dis- 
tricts in Central and 
Southern Italy, under the 
rule of their own leaders, 
or "dukes." In this way 
the peninsula was cut up 
into many governments. 
The northern part was 
under the Lombard King ; a number of petty dukes 
each ruled over his own district; and the remainder, 
including the city of Rome, was ruled by the officers 
of the Eastern Emperor. 

The kingdom of the Lombards lasted for about two 
himdred years. Then it, too, was overturned, and the 
land was conquered by a new German people, the 
greatest of them all and the only one, with the excep- 
tion of the English, that was to establish a lasting 
kingdom. These were the Franks, who settled in 




IVORY COMH OF A LOMP.AKD 
QUEEN. 



END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 49 

Gaul, and founded France. But before we trace their 
history we must first turn aside and see how the Chris- 
tian Church was gaining in strength and power in this 
dark period of warfare and confusion. 



50 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



VI 
Growth of the Christian Church. 

IN another book you may have read of the trials which 
the early Christians had to endure under the 
Roman rule ; — of how they were looked upon with scorn 
and suspicion; how they were persecuted; how they 
were forced to meet in secret caves called catacombs, 
where they worshiped, and buried their dead; and how 
at last, after many martyrs had shed their blood in wit- 
ness to their faith, the Emperor Constantine allowed 
them to worship freely, and even himself became a 
Christian. After this, Christianity had spread rapidly 
in the Roman Empire ; so that by the time the Ger- 
man tribes began to pour across the borders, almost 
all of the people who were ruled by the Emperor had 
adopted the Christian religion, and the old Roman 
worship of Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva was fast 
becoming a thing of the past. 

When Christianity had become the religion of many 
people, it was necessary for the Church to have some 
form of organization; and such an organization 
speedily began to grow. First we find some of the 
Christians set aside to act as priests, and have charge 
of the services in the churches. We find next among 



GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



51 



the priests in each city one who comes to be styled 
the "overseeing priest" or bishop, whose duty it was 
to look after the affairs of the churches in his district. 
Gradually, too, the bishops in the more important 
cities come to have certain powers over the bishops of 
the smaller cities about them ; these were then called 
"archbishops." And finalh^ there came to be one out 
of the many hundred bishops of the Church who was 
looked up to more than any 
other person, and whose ad- 
vice was sought in all im.por- 
tant Church questions. This 
was because he had charge 
of the church in Rome, the 
most important city of the 
Empire, and because he was 
believed to be the successor 
of St. Peter, the chief of the 
Apostles. The name "Pope," 
which means father, was 
given to him; and it was his 
duty to watch over all the 
affairs of the Church on 
earth, as a father watches 
over the affairs of his family. 

Of course, all this organization did not spring up at 
once, ready made. Great things grow slowly; and so 
it was only slowly that this organization grew. Some- 
times disputes arose as to the amount of power the 
priests should have over the "laymen," as those who 
were not priests were called; and sometimes there 
were disputes among the "clergy" or churchmen, 




BISHOP ON THRONE. 



52 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE^AGES. 

themselves. Sometimes these disputes were about 
power, and lands, and things of that sort; for now the 
Church had become wealthy and powerful, through 
gifts made to it by rulers and pious laymen. 
More often the question to be settled had to do with 
the belief of the Church, — that is, with the exact 
meaning of the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, 
as they are recorded in the Bible and in the writings 
of the early Christian teachers. Many of the ques- 
tions which were discussed seem strange to us; but 
men were very much in earnest about them then. 
And at times, when a hard question arose concerning 
the belief cf the Church, men would travel hundreds 
of miles to the great Church Councils or meetings 
where the matter was to be decided, and undergo 
hardships and sufferings without number, to see that 
the question was decided as they thought was right. 
One of the questions which caused most trouble was 
brought forward by an Egyptian priest named Arius. 
He claimed that Christ the Son was not equal in power 
and glory to God the Father. Another Egyptian 
priest named Athanasius thought this was a wrong 
belief, or ''heresy"; so he combated the belief of 
Arius in every way that he could. Soon the whole 
Christian world rang with the controversy. To settle 
the dispute the first great Council of the Church was 
called by the Emperor Constantino in the year 325 
A.D. It met at Nicaea, a city in Asia Minor. There 
"Arianism" was condemned, and the teaching of 
Athanasius was declared to be the true belief of the 
Church. But this did not end the struggle. The fol- 
lowers of Arius would not give up, and for a while 



GRO IVTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 53 

they were stron<;cr than their opponents. Five times 
Athanasius was driven from his position of arehbishop 
in Egypt, and for twenty years he was forced to live 
an exile from his native land. But he never fal- 
tered, and never ceased to write, preach, and argue 
for the belief which the Council had declared to be the 
true one. Even after Arius and Athanasius were both 
dead, the quarrel still w^ent on. Indeed, it was nearly 
two hundred years before the last of the "Arians" 
gave up their view of the matter; but in the end the 
teachings of Athanasius became the belief of the 
whole Church. 

One consequence of this dispute about Arianism was 
that the churches in the East and West began to drift 
apart. The Western churches followed the lead of the 
bishop of Rome and supported Athanasius in the 
struggle, while the Eastern churches for a time sup- 
ported Arius. Even after Arianism had been given 
up, a quarrel still existed concerning the relation of 
the Holy Ghost to the Father and Son. As time went 
on, still other disputes arose between the East and 
West. The Roman clergy shaved their faces and were 
not permitted to marry, while the Greek clergy let 
their beards grow, and married and had children. 
Moreover Rome and Constantinople could not agree as 
to whether leavened or unleavened bread should be 
used in the Lord's Supper. Still less could the great 
bishop of Constantinople, where the Emperor held his 
court, admit that the power of the bishop of Rome was 
above his own. Each side looked with contempt and 
distrust upon the other; for the one were Greeks and 
the other Latins, and the differences of race and 



54 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

langiui^i^c made it difficult for them to understand one 
another. 

Gradually the breach grew wider and wider. At 
last, after many, many years of ill feeling, the two 
churches broke off all relations. After that there was 
always a Greek Catholic Church (which exists to this 
day) as well as a Roman one ; and the power of the 
Pope was acknowledged only by the churches in the 
Western or Latin half of the world. 

The Church, of course, was as much changed by the 
conquests of the Germans as was the rest of the 
Roman world. The barbarians who settled in 
the lands of the Empire had already become Chris- 
tians, for the most part, before the conquest, but they 
were still ignorant barbarians. Worst of all, the 
views which they had been taught at first were those 
held by the Arians; and this made them more feared 
and hated by the Roman Christians. Among the citi- 
zens of the Empire, as well as among the barbarians, 
there was also much wickedness, oppression, and 
unfair dealing. "The world is full of confusion," 
wrote one holy man. "No one trusts anyone; each 
man is afraid of his neighbor. Many are the fleeces 
beneath which are concealed innumerable wolves, so 
that one might live more safely among enemies than 
among those who appear to be friends." 

The result of this was that man began to turn from 
the world to God. Many went out into the deserts of 
Egypt, and other waste and solitary places, and 
became hermits. There they lived, clothed in rags or 
the skins of wild beasts, and eating the coarsest food, 
in order that they might escape from the temptations 



GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



55 



of the world. The more they punished their bodies, 
the more they thought it helped their souls; so all 
sorts of strange deeds were performed by them. Per- 
haps the strangest case of all was that of a man named 
Simeon, who was called "Stylites," from the way in 
which he lived. For thirty years, — day and night, 
summer and winter, — he dwelt 
on the top of a high pillar, so 
narrow that there was barely 
room for him to lie down. There 
for hours at a time he would stand 
praying, with his arms stretched 
out in the form of a cross ; or else 
he would pass hours bowing- his 
wasted body rapidly from his fore- 
head to his feet, until at times 
the people who stood by counted 
a thousand bows without a single 
stop. 

Such things as these happened 
more frequently in the Eastern 
than they did in the Western 
Church, In the West, men were 
more practical, and when they 
wished to flee from the world, they went into waste 
places and founded "monasteries," where the 
"monks," as they were called, dwelt together under 
the rule of an abbot. In the West, too, the power of 
the bishop of Rome became much greater than that 
possessed in the East by the bishop of Constantinople. 
It was because the Pope was already the leading man 
in Rome that Leo went out to meet the Huns and the 




A MONK. 



56 THE SrORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Vandals, and tried to save Rome from them. About 
one hundred and forty years later, Pope Gregory the 
Great occupied even a higher position. He not only 
had charge of the churches near Rome, and was looked 
up to by the churches of Gaul, Spain and Africa more 
than Leo had been; but he also ruled the land about 
Rome much as an emperor or king ruled his kingdom. 

Gregory was born of a noble and wealthy Roman 
family. When he inherited his fortune he gave it all 
to found seven monasteries, and he himself became a 
monk in one of these. There he lived a severe and 
studious life. At length, against his own wishes, he 
was chosen by the clergy and people to be Pope. 
This was in tlie very midst of the Dark Ages. The 
Lombards had just come into Italy, and everything 
was in confusion. Everywhere cities were ruined, 
churches burned, and monasteries destroyed. Farms 
were laid waste and left uncultivated; and wild beasts 
roamed over the deserted fields. For twenty-seven 
years, Gregory wrote, Rome had been in terror of the 
sword of the Lombards. "What is hai)pening in other 
countries," he said, "we know not; but in this the 
end of the world seems not only to be approaching, 
but to have actually begun." The rulers that the 
Eastern Emperors set up in Italy, after it had been 
recovered from the East-Goths, either could not or 
would not help. And to make matters worse, famine 
and sickness came, and the people died by hundreds. 

So Gregory was obliged to act not only as the bishop 
of RomxC, but as its ruler also. He caused processions 
to march about the city, and prayers to be said, to 
stop the sickness. He caused grain to be brought and 



GRO WTH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCIL 57 

given to the people, so that they might no longer die 
of famine. He also defended the city against the 
Lombards, until a peace could be made. In this way 
a beginning was made of the rule of the Pope over 
Rome, which did not come to an end until the year 
1871. 

Gregory was not only bishop of Rome, and ruler of 
the city. He was also the head of the whole Western 
Church, and was constantly busy with its affairs. 

Before he was chosen Pope, Gregory was passing 
through the market-place at R jme, one day, and came 
to the spot where slaves — white slaves — were sold. 
There he saw some beautiful, fair-haired boys. 

"From what country do these boys come?" he asked. 

"From the island of Britain," was the answer. 

"Are they Christians?" 

"No," he was told; "they are still pagans." 

"Alas!" exclaimed Gregory, "that the Prince of 
Darkness should have power over forms of such loveli- 
ness." 

Then he asked of what nation they were. 

"They are Angles," replied their owner. 

"Truly," said Gregory, "they seem like angels, not 
Angles. From what province of Britain are they?" 

"From Deira, " said the man naming a kingdom in 
the northern part of the island. 

"Then," said Gregory, making a pun in the Latin, 
"they must be rescued rt'^ ira [from the wrath of God]. 
And what is the name of their king?" 

"^lla," was the answer. 

"Yea," said Gregory, as he turned to go, "Alleluia 
must be sung in the land of ^lla. " 



58 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

At first Gregory planned to go himself as missionary 
to convert the Angles and Saxons. In this he was 
disappointed; but when he became Pope he sent a 
monk named Augustine as leader of a band of 
missionaries. By their preaching, Christianity was 
introduced into the English kingdoms, and the Eng- 
lish were gradually won from the old German worship 
of Woden and Thor. 

Gregory also had an important part in winning the 
West-Goths and Lombards from Arianism to the true 
faith. In all that he did Gregory's action seemed so 
wise and good that men said he was counselled by the 
Holy Spirit; and in the pictures of him the Holy 
Spirit is always represented, in the form of a dove, 
hovering about his head. 

Gregory has been called the real father of the Papacy 
of the Middle Ages. This is no small praise, for the 
Papacy, in those dark ages, was of great service to 
Christendom. In later ages, popes sometimes became 
corrupt; and at last the Reformation came, in which 
many nations of the West threw off their obedience. 
But in the dark days of the Middle Ages, all the West- 
ern nations looked up to the Pope as the head of the 
Church on earth, and the influence of the popes was 
for good. There was very little order, union, and 
love for right and justice in the Middle Ages, as it 
was ; but no one can imagine how much greater would 
have been the confusion, the lawlessness, and the 
disorder without the restraining influence of the 
Papacy. 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. 59 



VII 

Rise of the Franks. 

THE West-Goths, the Burgundians, the Vandals, 
the East-Goths, and the Lombards, all helped in 
their own way to make Europe what it is to-day; yet 
none of them succeeded in founding a power that was 
to last as a separate state. Their work was largely to 
break down the rule of the Western Empire. The 
building up of a new state to take its place was to be 
the work of another people, the Franks. 

The Franks were the earliest of all the Germanic 
invaders to fix themselves in the Roman province of 
Gaul, but they were the last to establish a power of 
their own in that land. Gaul, in the five hundred 
years that had passed since its conquest by Julius 
Caesar, had become more Roman even than Italy 
itself. In its long rule by foreigners, however, it had 
decayed in strength. The spirit of patriotism had 
died out; the people in the latter days of the Empire 
had been ground down by oppressive taxation ; so it 
no more than the other provinces was able to offer 
resistance to the barbarians. 

A hundred years before the West-Goths crossed the 
Danube, bands of Franks had been allowed to cross 
the Rhine, from their homes on the right bank of that 



6o 77//: STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

river, and to establish themselves as the allies or 
subjects of Rome on the western bank. There they 
had dwelt, gaining in numbers and in power, until 
news came of the deeds of Alaric. When the 
Vandals, Burgundians, and other Germanic tribes 
sought to cross the Rhine, the Franks on the left bank 
resisted them but their resistance had been overcome. 




FRANKS CROSSING THE RHINE. 



After that the Franks, too, set out to build up a 
power of their own within the Roman territory, 
and gradually occupied what is now northern 
France, together with Belgium and Holland. When 
the Huns swept into Gaul, the Franks had fought 
against them, side by side with the Romans and West- 
Goths. And when Attila was defeated and had 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. 



6i 



retired, the Franks had been allowed to take posses- 
sion of certain cities in the valley of the Rhine 
which the Huns had won from the Romans. 

So, by the time that Odoacer overthrew the last of 
the Roman Emperors of the West, the Franks had 
succeeded in getting a good footing in the Empire. 
But they were yet far from 
strong as a people. They 
were still heathen, and they 
had not yet learned, like the 
Goths, to wear armor or fight 
on horseback. They still 
went to war half -naked, 
armed only with a barbed 
javelin, a sword, and an ax 
or tomahawk. They were 
not united, but were divided 
into a large number of small 
tribes, each ruled over by 
its own petty king. Besides 
all this, they had many 
rivals, even in Gaul itself. 
In the southern part of 
that land, reaching across 
the Pyrenees and taking in 
nearly the whole of Spain 
was the kingdom of the West-Goths. In the south- 
eastern part was the kingdom of the Burgundians. 
In the central part, the region that included the river 
Seine, a Roman officer named Syagrius still ruled, 
though the last of the Emperors of the West had 
fallen. And to the East of Gaul, were tribes who still 




ARMS OF FRANKS. 



62 rilE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

remained on German soil — the Thuriny:ians, some 
tribes of the Saxons, and the Allemanians. 

It was mainly due to one man that the Prankish 
power was not overcome, but instead was able to 
overcome all its enemies. This man was Clovis, the 
King of one of the little bands of the Franks. Five 
3^ears after the fall of Rome, he had succeeded his 
father as King of his tribe. Though he was only 
sixteen years of age at that time, he soon proved him- 
self to be one of the ablest, but alas! one of the 
craftiest and eruelest leaders of this crafty and cruel 
people. In the thirty years that he ruled, he united 
all the Franks under his own rule; he greatly 
improved the arms and organization of the army; he 
extended their territory to the South, East, and 
West; and he caused his people to be baptized as 
Christians. 

One of the first deeds of Clovis was to make war on 
Syagrius, the Roman ruler. In this war the Franks 
were completely successful. Syagrius was defeated, 
and put to death; and the district over which he 
ruled became subject to Clovis. A story is told cf 
this war which shows the rude and independent spirit 
of the Franks. When the booty was being divided by 
lot after the battle, Clovis wished to obtain a beauti- 
ful vase that had been taken from one of the churches, 
that he might return it to the priests. But one of 
his Franks cried out: "Thou shalt have only what 
the lot gives thee!" And saying this he broke the 
vase with his battle-ax. Clovis could do nothing then 
to resent this insult. But the next year he detected 
this soldier in a fault, and slew him in the presence 



RISE OF THE FRANKS, 



63 



of the army, saying: "It shall be done to thee as 
thou didst to the vase!" 

After the overthrow of Syagrius, Clovis turned to 
the conquest of other neighbors. One by one he set 
to work to get rid of the other kings of the Franks. 
Some he conquered by force ; others 
he overcame by treachery. He per- 
suaded the son of one king to kill 
his father; then he had the son put 
to death for the crime, and per- 
suaded the people to take him as 
their king. Another king and his 
son were slain because they had failed 
to help Clovis in his wars; and he 
took their kingdom also. A third 
king was slain by Clovis's own hand, 
after he had been betrayed into his 
power. Still others of his rivals 
and relatives were got rid of in the 
same way. Then, when all were 
gone, he assembled the people and 
said: "Alas! I have now no relatives 
to lend me aid in time of need." 
But he did this, as an old writer 
says, not because he was made sad 
by their death, but craftily, that 
he might discover whether there remained any one 
else to kill. 

In this way Clovis made himself sole King of the 
Franks. Already he had begun to extend his rule 
over other branches of the German people. The 
Allemanians, who dwelt to the eastward of the Franks, 




A PRANKISH CHIKF 



64 THE SIORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

were beaten in a war wliich lasted several years, and 
were forced to take the King of the Franks as their 
overlord. After this the Franks began to settle in the 
valley of the river Main, where the Allemanians had 
dwelt; and in course of time this district came to be 
called Franconia, from their name. 

Several wars too were waged between Clovis and 
the Burgundians ; and here also the power of the 
Franks was increased. Most important of all were 
the concpiests made from the West-Goths, who held 
Southern Gaul and Spain. Again and again Clovis led 
his Franks against this people. At one time Theod- 
oric, the king of the East-Goths came to their aid and 
defeated Clovis with terrible slaughter. But in the 
end the Franks were victorious, and most of Southern 
Gaul was added to the Frankish territory. 

Thus Clovis won for the Franks a kingdom which 
reached from the River Rhine on the North and East, 
almost to the Pyrenees Mountains on the South. To 
all this land, which before had borne the name Gaul, 
the name "Francia" was gradually applied, from the 
race that conquered it; and under the name of France 
it is still one of the most powerful states of Europe. 

When Clovis first became King, the Franks wor- 
shiped the old gods, Woden and Thor. Before he 
died, however, he and most of his people had been 
baptized and become Christians. His conversion 
came about in this way. While he was fighting 
against the Allemanians, he saw his Franks one day 
driven from the field by the enemy. He prayed to 
the old gods to turn the defeat into victory; but still 
his troops gave way. Then he bethought him that his 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. 65 

wife Clotilda had long been urging him to give up 
his old gods and become a Christian. He determined 
now to try the God of his wife; so he cried out: 

"O Christ Jesus, I beseech thee for aid! If thou 
wilt grant me victory over these enemies, I will believe 
in thee and be baptized in thy name!" 

With this he renewed the battle, and at last won a 
great victory. As a result, Clovis became a Christian, 
and more than half of his warriors decided to follow 
his example. When the news was brought to the 
priests, they were filled with joy, and at once prep- 
arations were made for the baptism. Painted awn- 
ings were hung over the streets. The churches 
were draped in white, and clouds of sweet smelling 
smoke arose from the censers in which incense was 
burning. The King was baptized first, and as he 
approached the basin the bishop cried out: "Bow thy 
head, O King, and adore that which thou hast burned, 
and burn that which thou hast adored!" 

After this, Clovis was, in name, a Christian; but his 
conversion was only half a conversion. He changed 
his beliefs, but not his conduct. When the story was 
told him of the way Jesus suffered death on the cross, 
he grasped his battle-ax fiercely and exclaimed: " If I 
had been there with my Franks I would have revenged 
his wrongs!" 

So, in spite of his conversion, Clovis remained a 
rude warrior, a cruel and unscrupulous ruler. Never- 
theless, his conversion was of very great importance. 
The Goths, Vandals, and Burgundians, had all been 
Christians at the time they invaded the Empire, but 
their Christianity was not of the kind the Romans of 



66 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

the West accepted. They were Arian Christians, and, 
as we have seen, there was great hatred between the 
Arians and the Roman or Athanasian Christians. In 
Africa, Spain, and Italy, therefore, the people hated 
their Arian masters. But it was different with the 
Franks. Because they believed as the Roman Chris- 
tians did, their Roman subjects in Gaul accepted and 
supported their rule, and the Pope showed himself 
friendly to them. 

This is one of the two chief reasons why the Prank- 
ish power was permanent. The other reason was that 
the Pranks did not wholly leave their old homes, as 
the other Germans did when they set out on their con- 
quest. The Franks kept what they already had, while 
adding to it the neighboring lands which they had con- 
quered. So their increase in power was a growth, as 
well as a conquest; and this made it more lasting. 

When the barbarians conquered portions of the 
Roman Empire they did not kill or drive out the 
people who already lived there. Usually they con- 
tented themselves with taking some of the lands for 
themselves, and making the people pay to them the 
taxes which they had before paid to the Roman 
emperors. So it was with the Franks. The people of 
Gaul were allowed to remain, and to keep most of 
their lands ; but the Pranks, although they were not 
nearly so numerous as the Romans, ruled over the 
state. The old inhabitants were highly civilized while 
the Pranks were just taking the first steps in civiliza- 
tion. "We make fun of them," wrote one of these 
Romans, "we despise them, — but we fear them also." 
As the years went by, the differences between the con- 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. 67 

querors and the conquered became less. The Romans 
found that times were changed and they had to adopt 
the habits of the Franks in some respects. The 
Franks had already adopted the religion of their sub- 
jects; they began also to adopt their language and 
some of their customs. In this way, the two peoples 
at last became as one ; but it was not until long after 
the time of Clovis that this end was fully reached. 

When Clovis died, he left four sons. The Germans 
followed the practice of dividing the property of the 
father equally among his male children. The Franks 
now applied this rule to the kingdom which Clovis left, 
and divided it just as though it were ordinary prop- 
erty. Each son received a portion of the kingdom, 
and each was independent of the others. This plan 
turned out very badly and caused a great deal of mis- 
ery. None of the kings was ever satisfied with his 
own portion ; but each wished to secure for himself the 
whole kingdom which Clovis had ruled. 

So murders and civil wars became very common 
among these "Merovingian" princes, as they were 
called. Almost all of the descendants of Clovis died a 
violent death; or else their long hair, — which was 
their pride and the mark of their kingship, — was cut 
and they were forced into monasteries. When one of 
the sons of Clovis died, his two brothers sent a mes- 
sage to their mother Clotilda saying: 

"Send us our brother's children, that we may place 
them on the throne." 

When the children were sent, a messenger came 
back to the grandmother, bearing a sword and a pair 
of shears, and telling her to choose whether the boys 



68 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 

should be shorn or slain. In despair the old queen 
cried out: 

"I would rather know that they were dead than 
shorn ! ' ' 

Probably she did not mean this; but the pitiless 
uncles took her at her word. Two of the boys were 
cruelly slain; the third escaped from their hands, and 
to save his life he cut off his own hair and became a 
priest. 

After a time the land of the Franks was divided into 
two divisions, and the people were called respectively 
East Franks and West Franks. Each land had a 
separate government. About a hundred years after 
the time of Clovis, two terrible women were queens in 
these lands. Their names were Fredegonda and Brun- 
hilda; and their jealousy and hatred of each other 
caused tliem to commit many murders and stir up many 
wars. It is hard to say which of the two was the worse, 
but we feel some pity for Brunhilda because of her 
terrible end. She had murdered her grandchildren 
in order that she might keep the power in her own 
hands, and she was charged with causing the death of 
ten kings of Frankish race. But at last she fell into 
the hands of her enemies; and although she was an 
old woman of eighty years, she was put to death by 
being dragged at the heels of a wild horse. Her ter- 
rible rival had died some years before. 

In many respects the laws of the Franks, and indeed 
of all the Germans, seem very strange to us. One 
of their strangest customs was that of the "feud," as 
it was called, and the "wergeld. " Both of these had 
to do with such struggles as the one between Brunhilda 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. 69 

and Fredegonda. In our day, and also among the 
Romans, if any one injured a man or killed him, the 
man or his family could go to law about it, and have 
the person who did the injury punished. But among 
the old Germans the courts of law had very little 
power, and many preferred to right their own wrongs. 
When a man was killed, his relatives would try to kill 
the slayer. Then the relatives of the slayer would try 
to protect him; and in this way a little war would 
arise between the two families. This was called a 
"feud"; and the struggle would go on until the num- 
ber killed on one side equaled the number killed on 
the other. By and by men began to see that this was 
a poor way of settling their grievances. Then it 
became the practice for the man who did the injury to 
pay a sum of money to the one who was injured; and 
the families helped in this, just as they had in the 
feud. When the payment was given for the slaying 
of a person it was styled "wergeld" or "man-money." 

After this the feud was only used when the offender 
could not or would not pay the wergeld. Every 
man, — and indeed every part of the body from a joint 
of the little finger up to the whole man, — came to have 
its price; and the wergeld of a Frank or of a Goth 
was about twice that of a Roman. 

Another interesting thing about the old Germanic 
law was the way the trials were carried on. Let us 
suppose that a man is accused of stealing. We should 
at once try to find out whether any one had seen him 
commit the theft ; that is, we should examine witnesses, 
and try to find out all the facts in the case. That 
was also the Roman way of doing things ; but it was 



70 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



not the German way. The Germans had several ways 
of trying cases, the most curious of which was the 
"ordeal." If they used this, they might force the 
man who was accused to plunge his hand into a pot of 
boiling water and pick up some small object from the 
bottom. Then the man's hand was wrapped up and 
sealed; and if in three days there was no mark of 
scalding, the man was declared innocent. In this way 




'M^i;.W^M: 









MKROVINGIAN KING IN CAR. 



they left the decision of the case to God; for they 
thought that he would not permit an innocent man to 
suffer. Besides this form of the ordeal, there were 
also others. In one of these the person accused had 
to carry a piece of red-hot iron in his hand for a cer- 
tain distance. In another he was thrown, with hands 
and feet tied, into a running stream. If he floated, he 
was considered guilty; but if he sank, he was inno- 
cent, and must at once be pulled out. All of these 



RISE OF THE FRANKS. Ti 

forms of trial seem very absurd to us, but to men of 
the early Middle Ages they seemed perfectly natural; 
and they continued to be used until the thirteenth 
century. 

In spite of the wickedness of the descendants of 
Clovis, and in spite of the divisions of the kingdom, 
the power of the Franks continued to increase. For 
about one hundred and seventy years the Merovingian 
kings were powerful rulers; then for about one hun- 
dred years they gradually lost power until they 
became so unimportant that they are called "do-noth- 
ing" kings. The rich estates which Clovis had left to 
his descendants were now wasted, through the reck- 
less grants which the kings had made to their nobles. 
So poor were the kings that they could boast of but 
small estates and a scanty income; and when they 
wished to go from place to place they were forced to 
travel in an ox-cart, after the manner of the peasants. 
Now they had few followers, where before their war- 
bands had numbered hundreds. All this made the 
kings so weak that the nobles no longer obeyed them. 
The government was left more and more to the 
charge of the kings' ministers; while the kings them- 
selves were content to wear their long flowing hair, 
and sit upon the throne as figureheads. The time had 
come when, indeed, the kings "did nothing. " They 
reigned, but they did not rule. 



72 THE STORY OP THE MIDDLE AGES. 



VIII 

Franks and Mohammedans. 

WHILE the descendants of Clovis were struggling 
with one another for his kingdom, and while 
the Church was gaining in wealth and in power, a 
danger was arising in the East that was to threaten 
both with ruin. 

This danger was caused by the rise of a new reli- 
gion among the Arabs. Arabia is a desert land for 
the most part; and the people gained their living by 
wandering with their camels and herds from oasis to 
oasis, or else by carrying on trade between India and 
the West, by means of caravans across the deserts. 
The people themselves were like grown-up children in 
many ways. They had poetic minds, and impulsive 
and generous hearts; but they were ignorant and 
superstitious, and often very cruel. Up to this time 
they had never been united under one government, nor 
had they all believed in the same religion. Some 
tribes worshiped the stars of heaven, others worshiped 
"fetiches" of sticks ard stones and others believed in 
gods or demons called "genii." If you have read the 
story of Aladdin and his wonderful lamp, in the 
''Arabian Nights," you will know what the "genii" 



FRANKS AND MOHAMMEDANS. 73 

were like. Arabia is so near to Palestine that it will 
not surprise you to hear that the Arabs had also 
learned something of the religion of the Jews, and of 
the Christians. But until the seventh century after 
Christ, the Arabs remained, in spite of this, a rude and 
idolatrous people, without any faith or government 
which all acknowledged. 

In the seventh centur}^ came a change. The Arabs 
then became a imited people, under one government, 
and with one religion. And under the influence of 
this religion they came out from their deserts and 
conquered vast empires to the East and to the West, 
until it seemed as though the whole of the known 
world was to pass into their hands. 

The man who brought about this change was named 
Mohammed. He belonged to a powerful tribe among 
the Arabs, but his father and mother had died before 
he was six years of age. He was then taken care of 
by his uncle, who was so poor that Mohammed was 
obliged to hire out as a shepherd boy, and do work 
that was usually done by slaves. When he was thir- 
teen years old his uncle took him with a caravan to 
Damascus and other towns of Syria; and there the 
boy caught his first glimpses of the outside world. 
When he grew up he became manager for a wealthy 
widow who had many camels and sent out many cara- 
vans ; and at last he won her love and respect, and she 
became his wife. When Mohammed established his 
new religion she became his first convert, and to the 
day of her death she was his most faithful friend and 
follower. 

Mohammed had a dreamy and imaginative nature. 



74 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



and when he had become a man he thought much 
about religion. Every year he would go alone into 
the mountains near his home, and spend a month in 
fasting and prayer. At times he fell into a trance, 
and when he was restored he would tell of wonderful 




THE CITY OF MECCA. 



visions that his soul had seen while his body lay 
motionless on the earth. 

When Mohammed was forty years old, a vision came 
to him of a mighty figure that called him by name and 
held an open book before him, saying, "Read!" 
Mohammed believed that this was the angel Gabriel, 
who came to him that he might establish a new 
religion, whose watchword should be : 

"There is but one God, and Mohammed is his 
Prophet!" 



FRANKS AND MOHAMMEDANS. 75 

When he began to preach the new faith, Mohammed 
found few converts at first. At the end of three years 
he had only forty followers. His teachings angered 
those who had charge of the idols of the old religions, 
and Mohammed was obliged at last to flee from the 
holy city of Mecca. This was in the year 622 a.d., 
and to this day the followers of Mohammed count time 
from this date, as we do from the birth of Christ. 

After this Mohammed gained followers more rapidly, 
and he began to preach that the new religion must be 
spread by the sword. Warriors now came flocking 
into his camp from all directions. Within ten years 
after the flight from Mecca, all the tribes of Arabia 
had become his followers, and the idols had every- 
where been broken to pieces. Then the Mohamme- 
dans turned to other nations, and everywhere they 
demanded that the people should believe in Moham- 
med, or pay tribute. If these demands were refused, 
they were put to death. 

Mohammed could neither read nor write, but his 
sayings were written down by his companions. In 
this way a whole chestful of the sayings of the Prophet 
was preserved, written on scraps of paper, or parch- 
ment, on dried palm leaves, and even on the broad, 
flat shoulder-bones of sheep. After Mohammed's 
death these sayings were gathered together and 
formed into a book; in this way arose the "Koran," 
which is the bible of the Mohammedans. 

Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus are all recognized 
as prophets in the Koran; but Mohammed is regarded 
as the latest and greatest of all. The Koran teaches 
that those who believe in Mohammed, and live just 



76 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

lives, shall enter Paradise when they die. The}^ will 
there dwell in beautiful gardens, where they shall 
never be burned by the rays of the sun, nor chilled by 
wintry winds; and there under flowering trees they 
shall recline forever, clad in silks and brocades, and 
fed by delicious fruits, which beautiful black-eyed 
maidens bring- to them. To win Paradise the Moham- 
medan must follow certain rules. Five times a day he 
must pray with his face turned in the direction of the 
holy city Mecca; he must not gamble or drink wine; 
and during the holy month, when Mohanmied fasted, 
he too must fast and pray. But the surest way to 
gain Paradise and all its joys, was to die in battle 
fighting for the Mohammedan faith. This teaching 
helps to explain why the Christians found the Moham- 
medans such fierce and reckless fighters. 

Within a hundred years after the death of Moham- 
med, his followers had won an empire which stretched 
from the Himalayan Mountains to the Red Sea, and 
from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. All of 
Southwestern Asia, and all of Northern Africa, were 
under their rule; and they were preparing to add 
Spain also, and perhaps all Europe, to the lands where 
the "call to prayer" was chanted. 

In the year 711 a.d., a Mohammedan general 
named Tarik led the first army of Moors and Arabs 
across from Africa to Spain. Near where he landed 
was a huge mountain of rock, on which he built a 
fortress or castle; and from his name it is still called 
"Gible-Tarik," or Gibraltar, the mountain of Tarik. 

Spain at this time was ruled by the West-Goths; 
but they were weakened by quarrels, and idleness, and 



FRANKS AND MOHAMMEDANS. 77 

were not able to resist the fierce Moors. Near a little 
river in Southern Spain the great battle was fought. 
For seven days the Christian Goths, under their King, 
Rodrigo, fought against the Mohammedan army; but 
still the battle was undecided. On the eighth day the 
Christians fled from the field, and Spain was left in 
the hands of the Mohammedans. 

Long after that day an old Spanish poet sang of that 
battle in words like these : 

"The hosts of Don Rodrigo were scattered in dismay, 
When lost was the eighth batt'e, nor heart nor hope had they; 
He, when he saw that field was lost, and all his hope was tiown, 
He turned him from his flying host, and took his way alone. 

"All stained and strewed with dust and blood, like to some 

smouldering brand 
Plucked from the flame, Rodrigo showed; his sword was in his 

hand, 
But it was hacked into a saw of dark and purple tint: 
His jeweled mail had many a flaw, his helmet many a dint. 

"He climbed into a hill-top, the highest he could see, 
Thence all about of that wide rout his last long look took he; 
He saw his royal banners, where they lay drenched and torn, 
He heard the cry of victory, the Arab's shout of scorn. 

"He looked for the brave captains that led the hosts of Spain, 
But all were fled except the dead, and who could count the slain? 
Where'er his eye could wander, all bloody was the plain. 
And while thus he said, the tears he shed ran down his cheeks 
like rain : 

" 'Last night I was the King of Spain — to-day no king am I; 
Last night fair castles held my train— to-night where shall I lie? 
Last night a hundred pages did serve me on the knee — 
To-night not one I call my own — not one pertains to me.' " 



78 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

This battle destroyed the power of the West-Goths. 
It also marks the beginning of the rule of the Moors in 
Spain, which was to last until the time of Queen Isa- 
bella and Columbus. 

The ease with which the Moors conquered Spain 
made them think it would be an easy thing to conquer 
Gaul also. So within a few years we find their armies 
crossing the Pyrenees to carry war into that land. 
But here they met the Franks, and that people was 
not so easy to overcome as the Goths had been. 

You have already seen how Clevis built up a strong 
kingdom in Gaul and Germany; and then how the 
power slipped away from the hands of his descendants, 
until they became mere "do-nothing" kings. The 
real power was now in the hands of great nobles who 
acted as the King's ministers. The chief of these was 
called the "Mayor of the Palace"; and at the time 
when the Moors came into Spain this office was handed 
down from father to son in a powerful family, which 
possessed rich estates in the Rhine valley, and could 
command a multitude of warlike followers. 

Three years after the Moors had crossed over into 
Spain, the old Mayor of the Palace died, and the office 
passed to his son Charles. This was a serious time 
for the kingdom of the Franks. Civil wars now broke 
out anew among the nobles; the Saxons from Ger- 
many broke into the kingdom from the North; and 
the Moors were pressing up from Spain into the very 
heart of France. The young Mayor of the Palace, 
however, proved equal to the occasion. The civil wars 
were brought to an end, and all the Frankish lands 
were brought under his rule. The heathen Saxons were 



FRANKS AND MOHAMMEDANS. 79 

driven back to their own country. Then, gathering 
an army from the whole kingdom, Charles marched, in 
the year 732, into Southern France to meet the Moors. 

He found their army near the city of Tours, laden 
with the booty which they had taken. The Moors 
expected another victory as great as the one which had 
given them Spain; but they found their match in 
Charles and his Franks. All day long the battle 
raged. Twenty times the light-armed Moors, on their 
fleet horses, dashed into the ranks of the heavy-armed 
Franks; but each time Charles and his men stood 
firm, like a wall, and the enemy had to retreat. At 
last the Moors gave up the attempt; and when day 
dawned next morning the Franks found that they had 
slipped off in the night, leaving behind them their 
tents and all their rich booty. 

This battle forever put an end to the conquests of 
the Moors in France. It was this battle also, per- 
haps, that gave Charles his second name, *'Martel, " 
or "the Hammer"; for, as an old writer tells us, 
"like a hammer breaks and dashes to pieces iron 
and steel, so Charles broke and dashed to pieces his 
enemies." 

At all events, the fame which Charles Martel won by 
his actions, and the ability which he showed as a 
ruler, enabled him to leave his power to his two sons 
when he died. Again there was a war between the 
Mayors of the Palace and the nobles who ruled over 
portions of the kingdom, but again the Mayors of the 
Palace won. Then, when quiet was restored once 
more, the elder of the two sons of Charles gave over 
his power to his brother Pippin, and entered a monas- 



8o 77/ A' SlCfKY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

tery, in order that he mi<;ht spend the rest of his years 
in the holy life of a monk. 

This left Pippin as the sole Mayor of the Palace. 
There was still a Merovingian prince who sat on the 
throne, but he was a "do-nothing" king, as so many 
had been before him ; and he only said the words that 
he was told, and did the things that were given him 
to do. 

Of course this could not go on forever. Every one 
was getting tired of it; and at last Pippin felt that the 
time had come when he might safely take the title of 
king. First, messengers were sent to the Pope to ask 
his opinion. The Pope was now eager to get the aid 
of the Franks against the Lombards in Italy; so he 
answered in the way that he knew would please 
Pippin. 

"It is better," he said, "to give the title King to the 
person who actually has the power." 

Then the weak Merovingian King was put off the 
throne and shut out of sight in a monastery; and Pip- 
pin was anointed with the sacred oil, and crowned 
King in his place. As long as he lived he ruled as a 
strong and just king. When he died, the crown went 
to his children, and after them to his children's chil- 
dren. In this way the crown of the Franks continued 
in the family of Pippin for more than two hundred 
years. 



CHARLEMAGNE. 8i 



IX 

Charlemagne. 

CHARLES THE GREAT, or Charlemagne, be- 
came King of the Franks when his father Pip- 
pin died. He was the greatest ruler of his time; and 
for hundreds of years after his death his influence con- 
tinued to be felt in Western Europe. If Columbus 
had never been born, America would have been dis- 
covered just the same; and if Luther had never lived 
there would nevertheless have been a Reformation in 
the Church. But if Charlemagne had never been King 
of the Franks, and made himself Emperor of the Holy 
Roman Empire, — as we shall see that he did, — the 
whole history of the Middle Ages would have been 
very different from what it actually was. 

At first Charlemagne's brother ruled with him as 
King; but within three years the brother died, and 
then Charlemagne ruled as sole King of the Franks. 
He owed the power which he had largely to his father, 
and to his grandfather, Charles Martel; but Charle- 
magne used this power wisely and well, and greatly 
increased it. He put down the rebellions of the 
peoples who rose against the rule of the Franks ; he 
defended the land against the Mohammedans of Spain 
and the heathen Germans of the North ; he conquered 



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CHARLEMAGNE. 



CHARLEMAG.XE. ?>t, 

new lands and new peoples. In addition he set up an 
improved system of government; and he did all that 
he could to encourage learning and make his people 
more civilized than they had been before. 

When we read of all the things that Charlemagne 
did, we wonder that he was able to do so much. In 
the forty-six years that he was King he sent out more 
than fifty expeditions against different enemies; and 
in more than half of these he took the command him- 
self. Charlemagne's wars, however, were not simply 
for plunder, or for more land, as so many of the 
earlier wars of the Franks had been. They were 
fought either to keep down the peoples whom the 
Franks had already conquered; or else to keep out new 
peoples who were seeking to conquer the Franks. In 
both these objects Charlemagne was successful. The 
net result of his wars was that almost all those lands 
which had formerly been under the Emperors of the 
West, were now brought under the rule of the King 
of the Franks; and the peoples who lived in these 
lands, both the old inhabitants and the German new- 
comers, were allowed peaceably to live together and 
work out their own destiny. 

The most stubborn enemy that Charlemagne had to 
fight was the Saxons. A portion of this people had 
settled in the island of Britain about three hundred 
years before; but many Saxon tribes still dwelt in the 
northern part of Germany. In Charlemagne's time- 
they still worshiped Woden and Thor, and lived in 
much the same way that the Germans had done before 
the great migrations. It was part of Charlemagne's 
plan to make himself ruler of all the German nations; 



84 THE STORY OF THE MID DEE AGES. 

besides, there were constant quarrels along the border 
between the Saxons and the Franks. The result was 
that war was declared, and Charlemagne started out 
to conquer, to Christianize, and to civilize these 
heathen kinsmen. But it was a hard task; and the 
war lasted many years before it was ended. Again 
and again the Franks would march into the Saxon 
lands in summer and conquer the Saxon villages; but 
as soon as they withdrew for the winter the young 
warriors of the Saxons would come out from the 
swamps and forests to which they had retreated, and 
next year the work would have to be done over again. 

After this had occurred several times, Charlemagne 
determined to make a terrible example. Forty-five 
hundred of the Saxon warriors who had rebelled and 
been captured were put to death by his orders, all in 
one day. This dreadful massacre was the worst thing 
that Charlemagne ever did; and it did not even 
succeed in terrifying the vSaxons. Instead, it led to 
the hardest and bloodiest war of all, in which a 
chief named Widukind led on his countrymen to take 
vengeance for their murdered relatives and friends. 
But in the end Charlemagne and his Franks proved 
too strong for the Saxons. Widukind^ at last, was 
obliged to surrender and be baptized, with all his fol- 
lowers. After that the resistance of the Saxons died 
away; and Charlemagne's treatment of the land was 
so wise that it became one of the strongest and most 
important parts of the kingdom. 

Charlemagne also fought a number of times against 
the Arabs in Spain. He not only prevented them 
from settling in Southern France, as they had tried to 



CHARLEMAGNE. 85 

do in the time of Charles Martel; but he won from 
them a strip of their own country south of the 
Pyrenees Mountains. In one of these wars, the rear- 
guard of Charlemagne's army was cut off and slain by 
the mountain tribes in the narrow pass of Roncevalles. 
The leader of the Franks was Roland, while the leader 
of the enemy was called Bernardo. Long after that 
day strange stories grew up ; and poets sang of the 
brave deeds of Roland, and of the mighty blasts which 
he gave on his hunting-horn, to warn Charlemagne of 
the danger to his army. Three blasts he blew, each 
so loud and terrible that the birds fell dead from the 
trees, and the enemy drew back in alarm. Charle- 
magne, many miles away, heard the call, and hastened 
to the rescue; but he came too late. An old song says: 

"The day of Roncevalles was a dismal day for you, 
Ye men of France, for there the lance of King Charles was 

broke in two ; 
Ye well may curse that rueful field, for many a noble peer 
In fray or fight the dust did bite beneath Bernardo's spear." 

In most of his wars Charlemagne was successful; 
and the stories about him told rather of his glory and 
his might than of his defeats. 

One of his most important conquests was that of the 
Lombards, in Northern Italy. Nearly a century 
afterward, an old monk wrote the story of this war as 
he had heard it from his father. Desiderius, the King 
of the Lombards, had offended the Pope, and the Pope 
appealed to Charlemagne for aid. When Charlemagne 
marched his army over the Alps into Italy, the Lom- 
bard King shut himself up in his capital, Pavia. There 



86 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

he had with him, accordini^- to the story, one of 
Charlemagne's nobles named Otker, who had offended 
the dread King and fled from him. 

"Now when they heard of the approach of the ter- 
rible Charles," writes this old monk, "they climbed 
up into a high tower, whence they could see in all 
directions. When the advance guard appeared, 
Desiderius said to Otker: 'Is Charles with this great 
army, do you think?' And he answered: 'Not yet.* 
When he saw the main army, gathered from the whole 
broad empire, Desiderius said with confidence: 'Surely 
the victorious Charles is with these troops.' But 
Otker answered: 'Not yet, not yet.' 

"Then Desiderius began to be troubled, and said: 
'What shall we do if still more come with him?' 
Otker answered: 'You will soon see how he will come; 
but what will become of us, I know not.' And, 
behold, while they were speaking, appeared the serv- 
ants of Charles's household, a never-resting multitude. 
'That is Charles,' said the terrified Desiderius. But 
Otker said: 'Not yet, not yet.' Then appeared the 
bishops and the abbots, and the chaplains with their 
companions. When he beheld these the Lombard 
prince, dazed with fear and longing for death, stam- 
mered out these words: 'Let us go down and hide in 
the earth before the wrath of so terrible an enemy!' 
But Otker, who in better times had known well the 
power and the arms of the great Charles, answered: 
'When you see a harvest of steel waving in the fields, 
and the rivers dashing steel- black waves against the 
city walls, then you may believe Charles is coming.' 

"Scarcely had he spoken when there appeared in the 



CHA RLEMA ONE. 87 

North and West a dark cloud, as it were, which 
wrapped the clear day in most dreadful shadow. But 
as it drew nearer, there flashed upon the besieged 
from the gleaming weapons a day that was more ter- 
rible for them than any night. Then they saw him, — 
Charles, — the man of steel; his arms covered with 
plates of steel, his iron breast and his broad shoulders 
protected by steel armor. His left hand carried aloft 
the iron lance, for his right was always ready for the 
victorious sword. His thighs, which others leave 
uncovered in order more easily to mount their horses, 
were covered on the outside with iron scales. The 
leg-pieces of steel were common to the whole army. 
His shield was all of steel, and his horse was iron in 
color and in spirit. 

"This armor all who rode before him, by his side, 
or who followed him, — in fact, the whole army, — had 
tried to imitate as closely as possible. Steel filled the 
fields and roads. The rays of the sun were reflected 
from gleaming steel. The people, paralyzed by fear, 
did homage to the bristling steel; the fear of the steel 
pierced down deep into the earth. 'Alas, the steel!' 
'Alas, the steel!' cried the inhabitants confusedly. 
The mighty walls trembled before the steel, and the 
courage of youths fled before the steel of the aged. 

"And all this, which I have told with all too many 
words, the truthful seer Otker saw with one swift 
look, and said to Desiderius: 'There you have Charles, 
whom you have so long desired!' And with these 
words he fell to the ground like one dead." 

In this war Charlemagne was completely victorious. 
Desiderius ceased to be King of the Lombards, and 



88 THE STORY OF TJ/E MIDPLE AGES. 

Charlema<4-ne became King- in his place. For cen- 
turies after that Charlemagne's successors continued 
to wear "the iron crown of Italy," which the great 
King of the Franks had won from Desiderius. 

One of the results of the conquest of the Lombards 
was that Charlemagne was brought into closer rela- 
tions with the Pope. The Emperor of the East still 
claimed to rule over Italy; but his rule was feeble, and 
only a small part of the peninsula was now in the hands 
of his officers. The real power in Italy had passed 
into the hands of the King of the Franks; and the 
question now was, whether the Pope should be under 
his rule as he had been under that of the Eastern 
Emperors. Two things made this question harder to 
decide. One was that Charlemagne, following the 
example of his father Pippin, had given to the Pope a 
large number of the cities and villages which he had 
conquered in Italy. The other was that the Pope, on 
Christmas day of the year 800, placed a crown on 
Charlemagne's head as he knelt in prayer in St. 
Peter's church at Rome, and proclaimed him Emperor. 

These two things helped to make it very hard to 
decide just what powers the Pope and the King of the 
Franks should each have. When Charlemagne gave 
those cities and villages to the Pope, did it mean that 
he gave up the right to rule there, and turned the 
power over to the Pope, so that the latter became the 
Prince in these places? And when the Pope crowned 
Charlemagne as Emperor, did that mean that the 
Pope could set up and pull down emperors whenever 
he wanted to? These, you see, are very hard ques- 
tions to answer; but they are very important ques- 



CHARLEMAGNE. 91 

tlons to understand. Upon the answers given to them 
would depend the decision whether the Pope was 
above the Emperor, or the Emperor above the Pope ; 
and this was a question about which men fought for 
hundreds of years. 

We may also ask, What was this Empire of which 
Charlemagne became Emperor on that Christmas 
morning? The name which men give to it is "the 
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." They 
thought of it as a revival of the old Roman Empire of 
the West, which had come to an end more than three 
hundred years before. They called it the Holy 
Roman Empire, to show how great a part the Church, 
and especially the Pope, played in it ; and they added 
the words, of the German Nation^ because it was 
the new and vigorous peoples who had come from 
the North who now supplied its strength. Though 
Charlemagne as Emperor ruled only over the peoples 
who had obeyed him as King, still men felt that his 
position now was higher, and his authority greater, 
than it had been before. For now his power was 
linked with the majestic history of Rome, and was 
given a more solemn sanction by the Church. 

In this way the crowning of Charlemagne as 
Emperor was an event of very great importance. For 
a thousand years after that day, the office of Emperor 
in the West continued to exist ; and for a good part of 
this time it was one of the most powerful means of 
holding the peoples of Western Europe together in one 
family of nations, and preventing them from growing 
wholly unlike and hostile to one another. We may 
truly say that a new age now commences in Europe, 



92 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

when force alone no longer rules, and when great 
ideas, such as the idea of the Church and of the 
Empire, begin to play a part amid the strife of nations. 
To govern the wide territories which were under 
his rule, Charlemagne kept up the "counts" or local 
rulers that he found established in different parts of 
his Empire. Ov^er these he set higher rulers who 
were to travel about the country, seeing everything 
and reporting everything to the King. Twice a year, 
in the spring and in the autumn, the nobles of the land 
were called together to consult with him, and assist 
him in making laws for the kingdom. These assem- 
blies would continue for several days, according to the 
importance of the business. While they lasted, mes- 
sengers would come and go from the King's palace, 
proposing laws to the assembly, and carrying back 
answers; and no stranger might approach until the 
business was completed. If the weather was fine, the 
assembly met in the open air; but if it was not, then 
the meetings took place in churches and other build- 
ings. The King, meanwhile, was busy receiving pres- 
ents, talking with the most important men, especially 
those who dwelt at a distance from his court, and 
hearing what his nobles and officials had to report to 
him concerning any part of the kingdom. This last 
Charlemagne considered very important. As an old 
writer says: "The King wished to know whether, in 
any part or any corner of the kingdom, the people 
murmured or were troubled, and what was the cause 
of their troubles. Also he wished to know if any of 
the conquered peoples thought of rebelling, or if any 
of those who were still independent threatened the 



CHA RLEMA GNE. 93 

kingdom with an attack. And upon all these matters, 
wherever a danger or a disturbance arose, his chief 
questions were concerned with its motives or its cause. " 

Besides being a great warrior and a great ruler, 
Charlemagne was also a great friend of learning and 
education. He loved to gather about him learned men 
from all parts of the world. In this "Palace School," 
as it was called, the King and his wise men discussed 
learned questions. Charlemagne himself learned to 
read only after he was a grown man ; and in spite of 
all his efforts he never succeeded in learning to write. 
This made him all the more anxious that the bright 
lads of his kingdom should have the advantages which 
he lacked. So he founded schools in the monasteries 
and bishoprics; in this way he hoped to get learned 
men for offices in the Church and State. The rude, 
fighting men of that day, however, looked upon learn- 
ing with contempt; and many noble youths in the 
schools neglected their books for hawking and warlike 
exercises. 

The old monk who tells us how Charles over- 
came King Desiderius, also tells us of the Emperor's 
wrath when he found the boys of one school going 
on in this fashion. The boys of low and middle 
station had been faithful; and when they presented 
their compositions and poems to the King, he said: 
"Many thanks, my sons, that you have taken sucii 
pains to carry out my orders to the best of your 
ability. Try now to do better still, and I will give you 
as reward splendid bishoprics, and make you rulers 
over monasteries, and you shall be highly honored in 
my sight. ' ' But to the high-born boys, who had 



94 * THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

played while the others worked, he cried out in wrath: 
"You sons of princes, you pretty and dainty little 
gentlemen, who count upon your birth and your 
wealth ! You have disregarded my orders and your own 
reputations; you have neglected your studies and 
spent your time in games and idleness, or in foolish 
occupations! I care little for your noble birth, and 
your pretty looks, though others think them so fine! 
And let me promise you this: if you do not make 
haste to recover what you have lost by your neglect, 
you need never think to get any favors from Charles!" 

In many other ways, besides those which we have 
mentioned, Charlemagne did a great work for the 
peoples over whom he ruled, and laid the foundations 
on which the ages that came after builded. In the 
troubled times that followed his death much of his 
work seemed to be swept away; but this was only in 
seeming, for the most important parts of it lived 
and still live in the governments and civilization of the 
world. 

Before taking leave of this great King, perhaps you 
would like to know what he looked like, and how he 
lived. One of the learned men of his court has left 
a good description of him. "He was tall and stoutly 
built," he says, "his height being just seven times the 
length of his own foot. His head was round, his eyes 
large and lively, his nose somewhat above the common 
size, and his expression bright and cheerful. Whether 
he stood or sat, his form was full of dignity; for the 
good proportion and grace of his body prevented the 
observer from noticing that his neck was lather short 
and his person rather too fleshy. " He was very active, 



CHARLEMAGNE. • 95 

this same writer tells us, and delighted in riding and 
hunting, and was skilled in swimming. It was, indeed, 
because of its natural warm baths that he made his 
favorite residence and capital at Aachen (the French 
Aix-la-Chapelle). He always wore the Prankish dress ; 
but on days of state he added to this an embroidered 
cloak and jewelled crown, and carried a sword with a 
jewelled hilt. The name (Charlemagne), by which we 
know him, is French, but the King himself, in speech, 
dress, and habits, was a thoroughly German king, and 
ruled over a thoroughly German people. 



96 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



The Growth of Feudah'sm. 

UPON the death of Charlemagne, his Empire passed 
to his son Louis. This ruler is sometimes 
called "Louis the Pious," because he was so friendly 
to the Church; and sometimes "Louis the Good- 
natured," because he was so easy-going and allowed 
himself to be guided by his wife and his favorites. 

Under his rule the Empire lost much of the strength 
that it had possessed under Charlemagne; and after 
Louis's death, it was still further weakened. His sons 
had begun fighting for the kingdom even while their 
father lived. After his death they fought a great bat- 
tle in which troops of all the Prankish lands took part. 
The old writers describe this as a terrible struggle, — 
more terrible than any since Attila and his Huns 
were driven back by the Romans and the Goths, or 
the Moors were defeated by Charles Martel. Those 
battles had been fought by the Christians against 
peoples who were not Christians; but now Christians 
fought against Christians, Franks against Franks. 
"May the day of that battle be accursed!" wrote a 
writer who himself took part in the struggle. "May 
it never more be counted among the days of the year, 
but be wiped out from all remembrance! May it lack 



THE GRO IVTH OF FEUDALISM. 97 

the light of the sun, and have neither dawning- nor 
twilight! May that night also be accursed; that ter- 
rible night in which so many brave and skillful war- 
riors met their deaths! Never was there a worse 
slaughter! Men fell in lakes of blood; and the gar- 
ments of the dead whitened the whole field." 

As a result of this battle, the three sons of Louis 
agreed to divide the kingdom among them. Charles, 
the youngest son, got the western part, and this in 
course of time grew into the kingdom of France. 
Ludwig, the second son, got the land lying east and 
north of the Rhine River and Alps Mountains; and 
this region in time became the kingdom of Germany. 
Lothair, the eldest son, got Italy, and a long narrow 
strip which lay between Charles's portion on the West 
and Ludwig's portion on the East; and with it he 
received the title of Emperor. This "middle strip" 
was long and awkwardly shaped, and there was so 
little to bind the people together that it never grew 
into a permanent kingdom. Before many years had 
gone by, it passed into the hands of the rulers of 
France and of Germany, and the only thing that 
remained to show its former rule was the name 
"Lotharingia" or "Lorraine," which is still given to 
the northern part of it. 

This division of the kingdom tended, of course, to 
make the Frankish power weaker. Other things, too, 
contributed to this end. The Carolingian princes (as 
the descendants of Charles are called) were not nearly 
so strong rulers as their grandfather had been; new 
enemies, moreover, had now arisen to trouble the 
land, and make the task of governing it more difficult. 



98 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

The Moors of Spain and Africa were going- far into 
the heart of France and Italy in their search for 
plunder and slaves. On the North and West fleets of 
Viking ships, laden with fierce Northmen from Den- 
mark and Norway, were landing upon the coast, or 
ascending in their light vessels far up the rivers, 
plundering, killing, and burning. And from the East 
the Hungarians — a new race, of close kin to the old 
Huns — were now advancing year after year up the 
Danube valley, into Germany, into Italy, into France, 
carrying everywhere terror and dismay. 

Since the kings of this period were too weak to pro- 
tect the land against attack, the people were obliged 
to look after their own defence. The result was that 
rich and powerful landowners began to build great 
gloomy towers and castles as a protection against 
these raids. In course of time every lofty hill-top, 
every cliff, every island in the great rivers, came 
to have a castle, where the lord and his followers 
might find protection against their enemies. There 
was now no power in the state either to protect 
or to punish its subjects; so these lords not only 
used their castles as a defence against the Hun- 
garians and other enemies, but often themselves 
oppressed their neighbors. From their strongholds 
they would sally forth to misuse the peasants of the 
country around, or to plunder merchants travelling 
from town to town. Everything was fallen into con- 
fusion; and it seemed as if the time told of in the 
Bible, when "every man did that which seemed good 
in his own eyes," had again come upon earth. 

There seemed to be only one remedy against these 




L.oFC. 



lOO THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

evils for the ordinary freeman. This was to give 
lip his independence, and get the lord of some castle 
to agree to protect him against all other enemies. 
That, in fact, is just what we find going oh in this 
period. Men everywhere were giving up their iride- 
pendeyice, and becoming the dependents of some great 
man who took them under his protection. 

When a freeman wished to "commend himself," as 
it was called, to the protection of a lord, he went down 
on his knees before him, put his hands between the 
hands of the lord, and swore to be "his man" — that 
is, to serve him. Then the lord raised his "vassal," 
as the man was thenceforth called, and gave him the 
kiss of peace. 

This was called "doing homage" to the lord. Next 
the vassal swore to be faithful to his lord in all things; 
this was the "oath of fealty." If the man had land in 
his own right, he usually gave it up to the lord, and 
the lord then gave him back the 2ise of it. If he had 
no land before, the lord granted him the use of some 
of his own land; and a lance, or a twig, was given him 
at the time he did homage, in sign of this. Thence- 
forth the lord was the real owner of the land, but the 
vassal had the use of it till his death. When he died, 
his son would do homage and swear fealty to the lord, 
and then he would be given the land liis father held. 
Such a piece of land was called a "benefice" or a 
"fief," and the name which is given to the whole sys- 
tem was "feudalism," or the "feudal system." 

As a result of this system the ordinary freemen 
gained the protection which they so much needed and 
the state could no longer furnish. Thenceforth they 



THE GRO IVTH OF FEUDALISM. 



lOI 



had a place of refuge, in the lord's castle, to which 
they could flee when robber bands appeared; and they 
also had a powerful protector to defend them against 
the attacks of other lords. 

"But," you may ask, "what good was all this to the 
lord of the castle? Why was he willing to admit these 
men to become his vassals, and even grant them 
parts of his own lands as benefices?" That is a ques- 
tion which is easily answered. The lord needed 7ne7i 




y-K- X 



LORD AND DEPENDENTS FEASTING. 



to help him guard his castle, and fight his battles; and 
that was what the vassals supplied. Every year they 
might be called upon to serve their lord as armored 
knights for forty days in the field, besides rendering 
him other services. In this way the lord obtained 
military followers, who were closely bound to him by 
ties of homage and fealty; and the more vassals he 
had, the more powerful he became. 

The lords themselves in turn often became the 



102 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

vassals of some greater lord above them, and bound 
themselves to bring all of M^/r followers to serve him, 
when called upon to do so. In the completed system, 
the king of the land stood at the head ; then under 
him were his vassals, and under them were their 
vassals, — and so on until we come down to the peasants. 
They were not looked upon as worthy to be the vassals 
of anybody; they were called "serfs" or "villains," 
and had to till the soil, and raise the food which 
supported all the classes above them. 

From what you have been told you might think that 
feudalism was an organization only for fighting; but it 
was something more than this. It came to be an 
organization for governing the land as well. The 
power of the kings became so weak that the feudal 
nobles were able finally to take into their own hands 
most things that the head of the state ought to have 
done. In this way it came about that the feudal lords 
had the right to make war, coin money, make laws, 
and hold courts in their fiefs. Sometimes they had 
their own gallows on which to hang offenders. The 
power that ought to have been in the hands of the 
head of the state was thus split up into many bits, and 
each of these great lords had part of it. 

The growth of the feudal system was going on every- 
where in Western Europe from about the eighth to the 
eleventh centuries. It grew slowly, but it grew 
surely; for in the weakened condition of the state it 
was the form of organization that best met the needs 
of the people. So everywhere, — in Spain, in France, 
in England, in Germany, and in Itah^ — we find the 
feudal castles arising; and men everywhere gave up 



THE GRO WTH OF FE UDA LISM. 1 03 

their free land, received it back as fiefs, and became 
the vassals of lords above them. 

The existence of feudalism is one of the most impor- 
tant facts about the Middle Ages. It is this which 
makes the government of that period so different from 
the governments of Greece and Rome, and also from 
the governments of to-day. Feudalism, moreover, led 
to other important changes. In the Church it made 
the abbots and bishops the vassals of the kings and 
nobles for the land which the Church held ; and since 
vassals owed military service, the bishops and abbots 
often became more like feudal warriors than mild and 
holy servants of Christ. Because the chief business 
of vassals and lords was fighting, much attention was 
paid to arms and armor, and to training for war. In 
this way arose the wonderful coats of mail and suits 
of armor of the Middle Ages ; in this way also arose the 
long training which one had to go through to become 
a knight, and the exciting "tournaments" in which the 
knights tried their skill against one another. 

In another chapter is an account of The Life of the 
Castle; we tell you of these things here only that you 
may see how truly we may say of this period, that it 
was indeed the Feudal Age, as it is sometimes called. 
Especially is this true of the eleventh, twelfth, and 
thirteenth centuries. It is in those centuries pre- 
eminently that we find feudalism grown into a com- 
plete system, and ruling the whole life of the lands 
which the German conquerors had won from the 
Roman Empire. 



[04 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



XI 



Deeds of the Northmen. 



ONE of the things which helped the growth of 
feudalism was the coming of the Northmen 
into Southern Europe. 

The Northmen were a sturdy people who dwelt 
about the Baltic Sea, in the lands which their descend- 
ants — the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes — still 
occupy. There they had dwelt as long as we have 

any record of them. 
While the other Ger- 
mans were seeking new 
homes in the fifth and 
sixth centuries, the 
North men 
had remain- 
ed quietly at 
h o m e, wor- 
shiping the 
old gods, and 
gaining a 
scanty living 
from their 
herds and fields, and from the sea. They were so far 
away from Rome that only faint reports reached them 




A VIKING SHir 



DEEDS OF THE NORTHMEN. 105 

of the stirring events that were taking place in the 
Roman lands. For four hundred years after the Goths 
had crossed the frontier, the Northmen remained 
quiet. But at last Charlemagne's conquest of the 
Saxons brought Christianity and the Prankish rule 
close to their doors. Traders and missionaries now 
began to come among them; from them tliey learned 
of the rich and beautiful lands which lay to the South, 
and their minds were dazzled by the thought of the 
easy victories which were to be won there. 

When finally the Northmen came into the southern 
lands, they came, not by land, as the earlier invaders 
had done, but by sea. The rocky islands, the bold 
cliffs, and the narrow valleys of the Scandinavian 
lands did not tempt men to agriculture. On the other 
hand, the sea invited them to voyage forth and seek 
adventures on its waters. The Northmen, therefore, 
had become bold sailors; and in their long, many- 
oared ships, they now dared the storms of heaven and 
the wrath of man, to sail wherever there was booty to 
be had or glory to be gained. 

Even in Charlemagne's time the Northmen had 
begun to trouble the southern lands. ''One day, 
while Charlemagne tarried in a city of Southern Gaul," 
says an old writer, "a few Scandinavian boats came to 
plunder even within the harbor of the city. Some 
thought at first that they were Jewish merchants; 
others believed that they were from Northern Africa, 
or were traders from Brittany. But Charlemagne 
recognized them by the fleetness of their ships. 'These 
are not merchants,' he said, 'but cruel enemies.' 
When the ships were pursued, they quickly disap- 



io6 THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

peared. Then the Emperor, rising from the table 
where he sat, went to the window which looked 
towards the East, and remained there a long time, his 
eyes filled with tears. No one ventured to question 
him; but at last he said: 'Do you know, my faithful 
friends, why I weep so bitterly? It is not because I 
fear that these men should annoy me by their wretched 
acts of piracy. But I am deeply afflicted because 
during my lifetime they have come so near these 
shores ; and I am tormented by a great grief when I 
think of the woes they will inflict upon my successors 
and the whole nation.' " 

Before Charlemagne was dead, indeed, these hardy 
wanderers began to fulfill his prophecy; and after he 
was gone the evil increased rapidly. Now the viking 
ships came by scores and hundreds, where before they 
had come singly and in dozens. The whole of Chris- 
tendom suffered from them. They plundered the 
shores alike of Germany, France, England, Scotland, 
Ireland, Spain, and Italy. With their light vessels 
they would enter the river mouths, and row as far 
into the heart of the country as they could. Then 
they would seize horses, and on these ride far and 
wide. They loved most of all to attack the churches 
and monasteries. They cared nothing for the Chris- 
tian God, for they were still heathen; and in the 
churches were rich gold and silver vessels, and fine 
embroidered cloths. It was easier, also, to capture a 
church or a monastery than it was a castle, for the 
priests and monks were not fighting men. And if any' 
resisted these fierce heathen, they were pierced with 
arrows, or cloven with their swords. 



DEEDS OF THE NORTHMEN, 107 

One of the most famous vikings was named Hast- 
ings. Some s^y that he was not a Northman at all, 
but a French peasant, who had joined the sea-rovers. 
At all events, he was very strong, brave, and cunning, 
and became one of their most famous leaders. We 
first meet with him while Louis the Pious was King; 
for nearly fifty years after this he was busy plundering 
towns and wasting the country in different lands. 
Now we find him in France; now he is in Frisia, just 
north of France ; now he is in England ; now he is on 
the shores of Spain. 

In one voyage Hastings sailed around the Spanish 
peninsula and entered the Mediterranean Sea. There 
he plundered Southern France, Africa, and Italy. He 
wished especially to plunder Rome, as Alaric and the 
Vandal king had done before him. But he knew more 
about fighting than he did about geography. On the 
coast of Italy, north of Rome, lay a little city called 
Luna, and Hastings mistook its marble palaces and 
churches for the buildings of Rome. Even the walls 
of Luna, however, were too strong to be taken by 
force ; so he was obliged to use a trick. He sent a 
messenger into the city saying that he had not come 
to make war, but was dying and wished to be baptized 
a Christian. The bishop and rulers of the city were 
pleased at this, and Hastings was baptized as he 
wished. Then the next day word was brought from 
the ships that their leader was dead, and they wished 
him to be buried in the church of the city. There 
seemed no harm in this request, so the rulers gave their 
consent. Hastings, with his weapons lying by his 
side, was brought within the walls, and with him came 



io8 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

some of his best warriors, as mourners. While the 
people of the city went with the funeral party to the 
church, the rest of the Northmen landed from their 
ships and slipped through the unguarded gate. Then 
Hastings suddenly seized his weapons and sprang 
from the couch where he lay; at once his followers 
fell upon the people, and in this way the town was 
soon won. 

At first the Northmen came only during the sum- 
mer season, sailing home when the winter storms were 
due. Before long, however, they began to spend the 
wMnter also in Christian lands. They would seize 
upon an island lying off the coast at a river's mouth; 
and from this as headquarters they would go forth at 
all times of the year to ravage the land. For many 
years this prayer was regularly used in the churches: 
*'From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver 
us." 

The struggle lasted for a long time. In France, 
within fifty years after Charlemagne's death, Paris 
had fallen three times. At first the weak kings tried 
to buy off the Northmen with gifts of money. But 
such gifts only made them greedy for more; and pay- 
ment had to be made again and again. Then the 
nobles and the cities took the defence into their own 
hands. In addition to the castles which the nobles 
were building, the cities began to fortify bridges over 
the rivers, so that they could keep the pirate ships 
from ascending the streams. 

The most famous struggle of all came at Paris in the 
year 886. This city was not yet the capital of France, 
but its situation already made it important. It was 



DEEDS OF THE NORTHMEN. 109 

built on a low island in the Seine, with a fortified bridge 
connecting it with each bank. When the Northmen 
came up the river in tliat year, the governor of the city, 
Count Odo, and the bishop, encouraged the people to 
resist. The viking ships numbered seven hundred, 
and they carried an army of 40,000 men; but for eleven 
months the city held out, and in spite of the weak- 
ness and cowardice cf the King, the Northmen at 
last were ol:)liged to withdraw. 

The family of this Count Odo had already won great 
honor in warring against the Northmen. For his 
father, Robert the Strong, had fallen, after many vic- 
tories, fighting against the pirate Hastings. The 
brave defence of Paris now made Odo more powerful 
than ever, and men began to think how much worthier 
he was of the crown than the weak Carolingians. So 
the cowardly King who was then ruling was set aside, 
and Count Odo was chosen King. It was too soon, 
however, for his family to get the throne permanently. 
Nevertheless, the crown did pass at last in the year 987 
to a member of his family; and from that date, for 
more than eight hundred years, all the kings of France 
were numbered among his descendants. 

Twenty-five years after the great siege of Paris, a 
band of Northmen secured such a footing in France 
that it was never possible afterwards to drive them 
forth. Their leader was a man of enormous size, 
strength, and courage; his name was Rolf (or RoUo), 
and they called him "the Ganger," which meant "the 
Walker. " Like Hastings, he was for nearly fifty years 
a sea-king, plundering Frisia, England, vScotland, and 
France, At the great siege of Paris, he was one of 



no THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

the chiefs. Unhke Hastings, however, Rolf was 
something more than a mere pirate and robber. 
When he captured a town, he strengthened its walls, 
and rebuilt its churches, and sought to rule over it as 
a conquering prince. 

In this way he came to possess a number of towns 
which lay north and south of the mouth of the 
river Seine. At last, in the year 911, he secured a 
grant from the King of France to a wide stretch of 
country in that region, with the title of Duke. 
This grant was made on three conditions. First, 
he must settle his Northmen there and leave the 
rest of the country at peace; second, he must become 
a Christian; and third, he must do homage to the 
French King as his feudal lord. This last condition 
was very distasteful to Duke Rolf, and he could 
scarcely be induced to place his hands between the 
hands of the King, as was required. When he was 
told to kneel down and kiss the foot of the King, as 
was the custom, he refused, and calling one of his i:A- 
lowers, commanded him to do it. This bold North- 
man, however, had no more liking for the deed than 
his chief ; and when he raised the King's foot to touch 
it to his lips, he toppled the King over on his back! 

In Normandy, — as his land was called, — Duke Rolf 
speedily showed that he was as good a ruler as he was 
a fighter. His followers settled down quietly, under 
his stern rule, and became landlords and cultivators 
of the soil. Before he died, it is said that gold 
rings could be hung on the limbs of the trees, and 
no one would touch them. The Northmen learned 
rapidly in other ways too. They followed the lead of 



DEEDS OF THE NORTHMEN. 1 1 1 

their Duke in being baptized, and soon all were Chris- 
tians. They also laid aside their old speech and law, 
and in less than a hundred years the fierce sea-rovers 
had become as good Frenchmen, in speech and every- 
thing else, as could be found in the kingdom. About 
the only thing to mark the difference between these 
Normans, as they were called, and the rest of the 
French, was their greater energy, their skill in govern- 
ing, and their fondness for the sea and adventure. 

Proof that they had not lost their energy or military 
skill was given in events which took place in the 
eleventh century. Within a little more than a hun- 
dred years after Duke Rolf and his followers were 
established in France, their descendants began to send 
forth new bands of conquerors. By accident their 
attention was turned to Sicily and the southern part 
of Italy. Soon the greater part of these lands was 
conquered from the Greeks and Saracens, and a Nor- 
man kingdom was established there called the king- 
dom of the Two Sicilies. 

About the same time the Normans conquered Eng- 
land also. The old Northmen (or Danes, as they were 
called in England) had conquered the northern half of 
that country nearly two hundred years before. But 
the great English King, Alfred, and after him his son 
and grandsons, fought so bravely against the invaders 
that the land was gradually re-conquered. Then, 
after a time, a new swarm of Danes had come as an 
organized and powerful army; and for a while the 
Danish King, Canute, ruled over all England, together 
with Norway and Denmark. But after his death and 
the death of his two sons, the English once more had 



112 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



a king of their own, named Edward the Confessor. 
This King died in the year 1066, and at once William, 
the Duke of Normandy, gathered together an army 
to conquer England. He claimed that King Edward 
had promised him the throne, and also that King 
Harold, who had taken Edward's place, had sworn 
never to become king. So with a great army of Nor- 




NORMANS LANDING IN ENGLAND. 



mans and Frenchmen, and a banner blessed by the 
Pope, William landed on the shores of England. At 
Senlac (or Hastings), not far from the place where 
they landed, the Normans found King Harold and his 
Englishmen awaiting them. There the great battle 
took place. For a while it looked as though the Nor- 
mans would be defeated ; but Duke William ordered his 
men to pretend to flee, in order to draw the Eng- 



DEEDS OF THE NORTHMEN. 113 

lish from their strong position. This move succeeded 
in part; but still the battle went on. At last Harold 
was struck in the eye and slain by an arrow shot up 
into the air; and the Normans won the battle. After 
this William soon got possession of all England. He 
was known as William the Conqueror, and became the 
founder of the line of kings and queens who have 
ruled that country down to the present day. 

This is not nearly all of the great deeds the North- 
men and their descendants performed at this time; 
but we can only mention a few of the others. As 
every American boy and girl knows, the Northmen 
settled Iceland and Greenland, and discovered Amer- 
ica long before Columbus was born. Twice bands of 
them attacked the city of Constantinople ; and after that 
they entered the service of the Greek Emperor, and 
for centuries made up his faithful bodyguard. In the 
far North, they made settlements in Russia, and gave 
a line of rulers to the great Russian Empire. And 
when the Crusaders set out to win Jerusalem from the 
infidels, the Normans of France, England, and Sicily 
took the leading part in. these movements also. 

These old Northmen were truly a wonderful peo- 
ple, and their coming into the Christian lands did 
much to make the southern nations stronger and more 
energetic than they would otherwise have been. 



114 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



XII 

The First Crusade. 

THE period of the Crusades lasts from the year 
1095 to the year 1270. In the great movement 
included between these dates we find, for the first time, 
practically the whole of Europe acting together for 
one end. And it was not only the rulers who were 
concerned; priests and kings, nobles, townsmen and 
peasants, alike took arms against the infidel. The 
story of the Crusades, therefore, is one of the most 
important and interesting parts of medieval history. 
Nothing can better show what the Middle Ages were 
like; and nothing helped more than they did to bring 
the Middle Ages to their end. 

The object of this movement was to bring Palestine, 
where Christ had lived and died, again under the 
rule of Christians. Until the Arabs began their 
conquests in the seventh century, the land had 
been ruled by the Eastern Emperors. Even after the 
religion of Mohammed was established side by side 
with that of Christ, the Christians did not at first feel 
so badly about it. They were too busy at home, 
fighting Northmen and Hungarians, and settling the 
institutions under which they were to live, to give 
much attention to things so far away. Besides, the 
Arabs respected the holy places of the Christians, and 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 



"5 



allowed pilgrims to Jerusalem to come and go without 
harm or hindrance. 

But about thirty years before William the Nor- 
man conquered England, a new race appeared in 
the East. The Turks, who were a rude fierce peo- 
ple from Central Asia, of close kin to the old Huns, 
conquered the Arabs; and the 
treatment of the Christians was 
thenceforth very different. The 
Turks were Mohammedans also; 
but they did not have the same 
respect for the religion of the Jews 
and Christians that the Arabs did. 
Besides, they were fiercer and 
more bloodthirsty, and in a short 
time they won from the Eastern 
Empire lands which the Arabs 
had never been able to conquer. 
Even Constantinople was not safe 
from them. "From Jerusalem to 
the ^gean Sea," wrote the Em- 
peror of the East to a Western 
ruler, *'the Turkish hordes have 
mastered all. Their galleys sweep 
the Black Sea and the Mediter- 
ranean, and threaten the imperial city itself." In 
the West, too, quieter times had now come; and 
rulers and people could turn their attention abroad. 
Finally, there was now more enthusiasm for religion 
among all classes; so when pilgrims returned 
from Jerusalem, telling of outrages committed 
against Christian persons and against Christian holy 




A PILGRIM. 



Ii6 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

places, it was felt to be a shame that this thing 
should be. 

When, therefore, the Emperor of the East wrote to 
the Pope asking for aid against the Turks, the people 
of the West were in a mood to grant it. At a great 
Council held at Clermont, in France, in the year 1095, 
Pope Urban II. laid the matter before the clergy and 
princes. Most of those present were French; and 
Urban, who was himself a Frenchman, spoke to them 
in their own tongue. He told them of the danger 
to Constantinople and of the sad state of Jerusalem, 
while the western peoples were quarreling and fight- 
ing among themselves. In all that region, he said, 
Christians had been led off into slavery, their homes 
laid waste, and their churches overthrcjwn. Then he 
appealed to his hearers to remember Charlemagne and 
the victories which he was believed to have won over 
the Arabs, and urged them to begin anew the war with 
the Mohammedans. "Christ himself," he cried, "will 
be your leader when you fight for Jerusalem! Let 
your quarrels cease, and turn your arms against the 
accursed Turks. In this way you will return home 
victorious and laden with the wealth of your foes; or, 
if you fall in battle, you will receive an everlasting 
reward!" 

To this appeal the Council, with one accord, made 
answer: 

"It -is the will of God! It is the will of God!" 

From all sides they hastened to give in their names 
for the holy war. Each person promising to go was 
given a cross of red cloth, which he was to wear upon 
his breast going to the Holy Land, and on his back 



THE FIRST CRUSADE, 



117 



returning. To those who "took the cross," the name 
"Crusaders" was given, from the Latin word which 
means cross. 

The winter following the Council was spent in get- 
ting ready. All classes showed the greatest zeal. 
Preachers went about among the people calling upon 
rich and poor, noble and peasant alike, to help free the 
Holy Land; and whole vil- 
lages, towns, and cities were 
emptied of their inhabitants to 
join the Crusade. Many sold 
all they had to get the means 
to go; and thieves, robbers, 
and wicked men of all kinds 
promised to leave their wick- 
edness and aid in rescuing the 
tomb of Christ Jesus from the 
infidels. 

The time set for the starting 
of the Crusade was the early 
summer of the year 1096, But 
the common people could not 
wait so long. Under a monk 
named Peter the Hermit, and 
a poor knight called Walter the 

Penniless, great companies from Germany and France 
set out before that time. They had almost no money; 
they were unorganized; and there was no discipline 
or obedience in the multitude. The route which they 
took was down the river Danube, through the king- 
doms of the Hungarians and Bulgarians, and so to 
Constantinople, Few of the people or their leaders 




A CRUSADER. 



ii8 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

had any idea of the distance, and as each new city 
came in sight many cried out: "Is this Constanti- 
nople?" In Hungary and Bulgaria the people attacked 
them because they were forced to plunder the country 
as they passed through, and many were slain. When 
they reached Constantinople, some of the unruly com- 
pany set fire to buildings near the city, while others 
stripped off sheets of lead from the roofs of churches 
to sell them to Greek merchants. The Emperor 
hastened to get rid of his unwelcome guests by send- 
ing them across into Asia Minor. There within a few 
months Walter and most of his followers were slain by 
the Turks; and the expedition came to a sorrowful 
end. 

Meanwhile the princes from France, Germany, and 
Italy were making ready their expeditions. While 
the Norman chiefs of Southern Italy were engaged in 
one of their many wars, a messenger came to them 
with the news that countless warriors of France had 
started on the way to Jerusalem, and invited them to 
join the expedition. 

"What are their weapons, what their badge, what 
their war-cry?" asked one of the Normans. 

"Our weapons," replied the messenger, "are those 
best suited to war ; our badge, the cross of Christ ; our 
war-cry, *It is the will of God! It is the will of God!' " 
• When he heard these words, the Norman tore from 
his shoulders his costly cloak, and with his own hands 
he made crosses from it for all who would follow him 
to the Holy Land. There he became one of the most 
famous and renowned of the Crusaders ; and his fol- 
lowers showed that they could be as brave, as enter- 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 



119 



prising-, and as skillful in fighting for the Holy Land, 
as they had been before in fighting for lands and 
goods in France, in England, and in Italy. 

The Crusaders set out at last in five different com- 
panies. The first started in August, 1096; the last did 
not join the others, near Constantinople, until the next 
summero The companies were made up of trained 
and armed knights, with chosen leaders, who had made 




CRUSADERS ON THE MARCH. 



many preparations for the expedition. They did not 
suffer so severely, therefore, as did the poor, ignorant 
people under Walter the Penniless. Still they encoun- 
tered many hardships. It was already winter when 
the men of South France toiled over the mountains 
near Constantinople. "For three weeks," writes one 
of their number, "we saw neither bird nor beast. For 
almost forty days did we struggle on through mists so 



I20 THE S70R V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

thick that we could actually feel them and brush thcni 
aside with a motion of the hand." 

At last this stage of their journey came to an end, 
and the Crusaders arrived at Constantinople. In the 
lands north of the Alps, there were at that time none 
of the vast and richly ornamented churches and other 
buildings which later arose ; all was poor, and lacking in 
stateliness and beauty. Constantinople, however, was 
the most beautiful city of the world; so the sight of it 
filled the Crusaders with awe and admiration. "Oh 
how great a city it is!" wrote one of their number; 
"how noble and beautiful ! What wondrously wrought 
monasteries and palaces are therein! What marvels 
everywhere in street and square! It would be tedious 
to recite its wealth in all precious things, in gold and 
silver, in cloaks of many shapes, and saintly relics. 
For to tliis place ships bring all things that man may 
require." 

Now that these sturdy warriors of the West were 
actually at Constantinople, the Greek Emperor began 
to fear lest they might prove more troublesome to his 
empire than the Turks themselves. "Some of the 
Crusaders," wrote the Emperor's daughter, "were 
guileless men and women marching in all simplicity 
to worship at the tomb of Christ. But there were 
others of a more wicked kind. Such men had but one 
object, and this was to get possession of the Emperor's 
capital." After much suspicion on both sides, and 
many disputes, the Emperor got the "Franks" — as the 
Crusaders were called — safely away from the city, and 
over into Asia Minor. There, at last, they met the 
Turks. At first the latter rushed joyously into bat- 



THE FIRS T CR USA DE. i 2 1 

tie, dragging ropes with which to bind the Christians 
captive; but soon they found that tlie "Franks" were 
more than a match for them. Nicaea, the city where 
Constantine held the first Church council, was soon 
taken; and the Crusaders then pressed on to other and 
greater victories. 

Letter-writing was not nearly so common in those 
days as it is now; but some of the Crusaders wrote 
letters home, telling of their deeds. A few of these 
have come down to us across the centuries; and in 
order that you may learn what the Crusaders were 
thinking and feeling, as well as what they were doing, 
one of them is given here. The writer was a rich and 
powerful noble, and the letter was written while the 
army was laying siege, with battering rams and siege 
towers, to the strongly walled city of Antioch. 

"Count Stephen to Adele, his sweetest and most 
amiable wife, to his dear children, and to all his vas- 
sals of all ranks, — his greeting and blessing: 

"You may be very sure, dearest, that the messenger 
(whom I send to give you pleasure) left me before 
Antioch safe and unharmed, and through God's grace 
in the greatest prosperity. Already at that time we 
had been continuously advancing for twenty-three 
weeks toward the home of our Lord Jesus. You may 
know for certain, my beloved, that of gold, silver, 
and many other kinds of riches I now have twice as 
much as your love had wished for me when I left 
you. For all our princes, with the common consent 
of the whole army and against my own wishes, have 
made me, up to the present time, the leader, chief, 
and director of their whole expedition. 



122 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

**You have certainly heard that, after the capture Oi 
the city of Nicaea, we fought a great battle with the 
faithless Turks, and by God's aid conquered them. 
Next we conquered for the Lord all Roumania, and 
afterwards Cappadocia. Thence, continually follow- 
ing the wicked Turks, we drove them through the 
midst of Armenia, as far as the great river Euphrates. 
Having left all their baggage and beasts of burden on 
the bank, they fled across the river into Arabia. 

*'Some of the bolder of the Turkish soldiers, how- 
ever, entered Syria and hastened by forced marches 
night and day to enter the royal city of Antioch before 
our approach. The whole army of God, learning this, 
gave due praise and thanks to the all-powerful Lord. 
Hastening with great joy to Antioch, we besieged it, 
and had many conflicts there with the Turks. Seven 
times we fought, with the fiercest courage and under 
the leadership of Christ, against the citizens of Anti- 
och and the innumerable troops which were coming to 
its aid. In all these seven battles, by the aid of the 
Lord God, we conquered, and assuredly killed an innu- 
merable host of them. In those battles, indeed, and 
in very many attacks made upon the city, many of our 
brethren and followers were killed, and their souls 
were borne to the joys of Paradise. 

"In fighting against these enemies of God and of our 
own, we have by God's grace endured many sufferings 
and innumerable evils up to the present time. Many 
have already exhausted all their resources in this very 
holy expedition. Very many of our Franks, indeed, 
would have met death from starvation, if the mercy of 
God, and our money, had not helped them. Before 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 123 

the city of Antioch, and indeed throughout the whole 
winter, we suffered for our Lord Christ from excessive 
cold and great torrents of rain. What some say about 
the impossibility of bearing the heat of the sun 
throughout Syria is untrue, for the winter here is very 
similar to our winter in the West. 

"When the Emir of Antioch — that is, its prince and 
lord — perceived that he was hard pressed by us, he 
sent his son to the prince who holds Jerusalem, and to 
the prince of Damascus, and to three other princes. 
These five Emirs, with 12,000 picked Turkish horse- 
men, suddenly came to aid the inhabitants of Antioch. 
We, indeed, ignorant of this, had sent many of our sol- 
diers away to the cities and fortresses; for there are 
one hundred and sixty-five cities and fortresses 
throughout Syria which are in our power. But a little 
before they reached the city, we attacked them at three 
leagues' distance, with seven hundred soldiers. God 
surely fought for us against them; for on that day we 
conquered them and killed an innumerable multitude; 
and we carried back to the army more than two hun- 
dred of their heads, in order that the people might 
rejoice on that account, 

"These things which I write to you are only a few, 
dearest, of the many deeds which we have done. 
And because I am not able to tell you, dearest, what 
is in my mind, I charge you to do right, to carefully 
watch over your land, to do your duty as you ought to 
your children and your vassals. You will certainly see 
nie just as soon as I can possibly return to you. Fare- 
well." 

The capture of Antioch was the hardest task that 



124 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

the Crusaders had to perform; and it was not until 
three months later that the city was finally safe in their 
hands. Many of the Crusaders became discouraged 
meanwhile and started home. At this trying time, a 
priest declared that it had been revealed to him in a 
dream, thrice repeated, that the head of the spear 
which had pierced our Lord's side lay buried^near one 
of the altars of a church near by; and it was further 
revealed, he said, that if this was found and borne at 
the head of the army, victory would surely follow. 
After long search, and much prayer and fasting, the 
**holy lance" was found. Then there was great joy 
and new courage among the Christians; and when 
next they marched against the Turks, the Crusaders 
fought more fiercely than ever. "Thanks to the 
Lord's Lance," writes one of their number, "none of 
us were wounded, — no, not so much as by an arrow. 
I, who speak these things, saw them for myself, since 
I was bearing the Lord's Lance." The Crusaders con- 
tinued to fight valiantly until Antioch was theirs, and 
the armies which had marched to its relief were 
defeated and scattered. 

The Crusaders were now free to march on to Jeriisa- 
lem. There men and animals suffered much from 
lack of food and water. "Many," an old writer says, 
"lay near the dried-up springs unable to utter a cry 
because of the dryness of their tongues; and there 
they remained, with open mouths, and hands stretched 
out to those whom they saw had water." Again the 
priests saw visions; and it was promised to the 
Crusaders that if the army marched barefoot around 
the city for nine days, the city would fall. 



THE FIRS T CR USA DE. 125 

So, a procession was formed, and the Crusaders 
marched around the city, with white-robed priests and 
bishops, cross in hand, at their head, chanting hymns 
and praying as they went. As the procession passed 
by, the Mohammedans mocked at them from the walls; 
and some beat a cross, crying out: "Look, Franks! 
It is the holy cross on which your Christ was slain!" 

After this the chiefs ordered an attack on the city 
from two sides. The Mohammedans were now beaten 
back from the walls by the showers of stones thrown 
by the hurling machines, while blazing arrows carried 
fire to the roofs of 
the buildings in the 
city. Battering rams, 
too, were at work 
breaking great holes 
in the solid walls, 
and scaling ladders 
were placed, by machine for hurling stones. 

which the Christians 
swarmed over the ramparts. So, at last, the city fell. 

Jerusalem, — the holy Jerusalem, which held the tomb 
of Christ — was now once more in the hands of the 
Christians. But what a terrible day was that! How 
little of the meek and just spirit of Christ did his fol- 
lowers show! '*When our men had taken the city, 
with its walls and towers," writes one of the Crusad- 
ers, ''there were things wondrous to be seen. For 
some of the enemy — and this is a small matter — were 
deprived of their heads ; others, riddled through with 
arrows, were forced to leap down from the towers; 
and others, after long torture, were burned in the 




126 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

flames. In all the streets and squares there were to 
be seen piles of heads, and hands, and feet; and along 
the public ways foot and horse alike made passage 
over the bodies of the slain." 

In this way the Crusaders fulfilled their vow to 
"wrest the Holy Sepulchre from the infidel." How 
many hundreds of thousands of lives, both Christian 
and Mohammedan, were lost to gain this end! What 
agonies of battle, what sufferings on the way, what 
numbers of women made widows and children left 
fatherless! And all this that the tomb of Christ might 
not remain in the hands of a people who did not accept 
His religion! How pityingly the Christ must have 
looked down upon this struggle with His mild, sweet 
eyes! How far away this bloodshed and war seems 
from the teachings of Him whose birth was heralded 
by the angels' cry: ''Peace on earth, good will towards 
men!" 

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain 
mercy," said Christ: but this teaching, alas, the Cru- 
saders seemed not to know. 



LATER CRUSADES. 127 



XIII 

Later Crusades. 

AFTER the Holy Land was won, a government had 
to be organized to prevent the land from slip- 
ping back into the hands of the infidels. The Crusad- 
ers knew only one way to rule a land — namely, the 
feudal way. That was the way Western Europe was 
ruled, so that was the form of government set up in 
Palestine. The land was divided into a number of 
fiefs, and each of these was given to a Crusading chief. 
In each fief the feudal law and a feudal government was 
then introduced. Jerusalem, with the country about, 
was formed into "the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem," 
and was given to Godfrey of Bouillon, one of the most 
famous of the Crusaders. The rest of the land was 
formed into three principalities, each with its own 
feudal head, and with many vassal Crusaders. The 
peasants who tilled the soil before the Crusaders came 
were not driven off. They had long been Christians, 
though they worshiped more like the Greeks than like 
the Latins. The only difference in their position was 
that now they were to pay rent and taxes to Christian 
masters, and not to Turks and Saracens. 

As soon- as Jerusalem had fallen, most of the Crusad- 
ers began to make preparations for returning home. 
Soon Godfrey and his fellow rulers were left with mere 



128 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



handfuls of men to resist the attacks of the Moham- 
medans. If the latter had been united, they could 
easily at this time have driven the "Franks" into the 
sea. But the Mohammedans were quarreling among 
themselves, and besides had learned to fear the mail- 
clad Franks. So the Christians were given time to 
prepare their defence. Huge castles were everywhere 
built to protect the lands they had won. New com- 
panies of Crusaders, too, were constantly arriving to 

take the place of those 
who had returned 
home; and merchants 
from the Italian cities 
were coming to settle 
for the purpose of car- 
rying on trade. 

Soon, too, three 
special orders of 
knights were formed 
to protect the Holy 
Land, and care for the 
Christians. The first of 
these was the Knights 
of the Hospital, or the Knights of St. John; its chief 
purpose was to care for and protect sick pilgrims. The 
second was the Order of the Temple, or Knights Tem- 
plar; they got their name because their headquarters 
were in the temple at Jerusalem. The third was the 
Order of the Teutonic Knights, which received its name 
because its members were Germans, while the mem- 
bers of the other orders were mostly French. The 
members of these orders were both monks and knights. 




KNKiHT JKiMPLAR. 



LA TER CR USA DBS. 1 2 9 

They were bound like monks by vows of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience; but they were also knights 
engaged in a perpetual crusade against the infidel. 
The Hospitallers wore a white cross on a black mantle; 
the Templars a red cross on a white mantle ; and the 
Teutonic Knights a black cross on a mantle of white. 

These "military orders" became very powerful and 
wealthy, and helped a great deal to keep the Holy 
Land in the hands of the Christians. For nearly half 
a century after Jerusalem was recovered there was no 
very great danger to the rule of the Franks. Then 
all Europe was startled by the news that one of the 
four Christian principalities had been conquered by 
the Saracens, and the Christians put to the sword. At 
once there was great fear lest the other states should 
fall also, and preparations were made for sending out 
a large number of Crusaders to their assistance. 

This expedition started in the year 1247, and is 
known as the Second Crusade. The kings of two of 
the leading countries of Europe, Conrad HI. of Ger- 
many and Louis VI L of France, led the forces. Their 
armies took the same route — down the river Danube 
and across to Constantinople — that the first Crusade 
had followed. Again there was terrible suffering on 
the way. The German army was almost entirely 
destroyed in Asia Minor; and although the French 
reached Palestine in safety, very little was accom- 
plished in the way of strengthening the Christians 
there. 

After the failure of this Crusade, there was no great 
change for forty years. Twice a year, in the spring and 
autumn, a number of vessels would sail from the cities 



I30 THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

of Italy and Southern France carrying pilgrims and 
adventurers to Palestine. In this way the strength 
of the Christian states was kept up, in spite of the 
number who were constantly returning. Then, towards 
the end of the period, rumors began to come of a great 
Mohammedan leader who had arisen jn Egypt, and 
was threatening Palestine with new danger. He was 
called Saladin, and was one of the greatest rulers the 
Mohammedans ever had. He was foremost in battle, 
and wise and far-sighted in council. When he was 
victorious, he dealt generously with his enemies; and 
when defeated he was never cast down. He was ever 
simple in his habits, just and upright in his dealings, 
and true to his promises. He was, in short, as 
chivalrous a warrior, and as sincere a believer in his 
faith, as any of the Christian knights against whom he 
fought. 

For Saladin, as well as for the Crusaders, the war for 
Palestine was a *'holy war"; and soon his power was 
grown so great that he could attack them from all 
sides. "So great is the multitude of the Saracens and 
Turks," wrote one of the Crusaders in speaking of his 
armies, "that from the city of Tyre, which they are 
besieging, they cover the face of the earth as far as 
Jerusalem, like an innumerable army of ants." When 
the Christians marched out to battle, they were over- 
thrown with terrible slaughter; and the King of 
Jerusalem, and the Grand Master of the Templars, 
were among the captives taken. Three months after 
this, Saladin laid siege to Jerusalem itself. For two 
weeks only the city held out; at the end of that time it 
was forced to sue for peace. The mercy which 



LA TER CR USA DES. 



131 



Saladin now showed to the conquered Christians was in 
strange contrast to the cruelty which the Crusaders 
had displayed when the city fell into their hands. 
There was no slaughter such as had occurred ninety 
years before, and the greater number of the defeated 
party were allowed to go free, on paying a ransom. 
But the crosses on the churches were torn down, the 
bells were destroyed, 

and the churches r, r**^^,?^"^ %;«^.^; 

themselves were 
changed into Mo- 
hammedan mosques. 
Once more the Holy 
Land was in the 
hands of the unbe- 
liever, 

Wh en news of 
these events reached 
Europe, it caused 
great excitement. 
The three most pow- 
erful rulers, — Fred- 
erick of Germany, 
Philip of France, and 

Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, — took the 
cross, and in the years 1189 and 1190 they led forth 
their followers to the Third Crusade. 

The Emperor Frederick of Germany, — who was 
called "Barbarossa," on account of his red beard,— 
had been one of those who followed King Conrad 
in the Second Crusade; now although he was seventy 
years old, he was the first to start on the Third. He 




THE LEGEND OF BARBAROS3A. 



132 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

led his army by the old land route, but his forces were 
better org^anized, and there was not so much hardship 
as there had been before. Except for one battle 
which they had to fight with the Greek Emperor, 
all went well until the army reached Asia Minor. 
There, alas! the old Emperor was drowned, while 
swimming- a river one hot day, to refresh himself and 
shorten his way. After that the German army went to 
pieces, and most of its members lost their lives in the 
mountains and deserts of Asia Minor, or were cut 
down by Turkish soldiers. In Germany the people 
refused to believe that their king was dead Long 
after this, stories were told of the good Barbarossa, 
who slept from year to year in a rocky cavern high up 
on a lonely mountain side, with his head resting on his 
hand and his long red beard grown round the granite 
blocks by his side. There, the people said, he lay 
sleeping throughout the ages; but when the ravens 
should cease to fly about the mountain, the Emperor 
would wake to punish the wicked and bring back the 
golden age to the world. 

When at last Philip of France and Richard of Eng- 
land were ready, they took ship to avoid the hardships 
of the journey by land. From the beginning, how- 
ever, things went wrong. Richard and Philip were 
very jealous of each other, and could not get along 
together. Philip was only half-hearted in the Cru- 
sade, and longed to be back in France; while Richard 
allowed himself to be turned aside for a while to other 
things. When they reached the Holy Land, they 
found the Christians laying siege to Acre, one of the 
sea-ports near Jerusalem, The siege had already 



LATER CRUSADES. 



133 



lasted more than a year, and for several months longer 
it dragged on. It was a dreary time for the Chris- 
tians. "The Lord is not in the camp," wrote one 
of their number; "there is none that doeth good. 
The leaders strive with one another, while the lesser 
folk starve, and have none to help. The Turks 
are persistent in attack, 
while our knights skulk 
within their tents. The 
strength of Saladin in- 
creases daily, but daily 
does our army wither 
away." 

At last Acre was taken, 
— mainly through the skill 
and daring of King Rich- 
ard, who was one of the 
best warriors of that day, 
and knew well how to use 
the battering-rams, stone- 
throwers, movable towers, 
and other military "en- 
gines" to batter down 
walls and take cities. 
Philip was already weary 
of the Crusade, and soon 

after returned to France. Richard remained for more 
than a year longer. In this time he won some mil- 
itary successes; but he could not take Jerusalem. 

Finally news came to Richard from England that 
his brother John was plotting to make himself king. 
Richard was now obliged to return home. The only 




AITACKIXG A CITY, 



34 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 



advantage he had gained for the Christians was a 
truce for three years, permitting pilgrims to go to the 
Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem without hindrance. 

Before he left, Richard warned Saladin that he 
would return to renew the war; but he never did. 
On his way home he was shipwrecked and was obliged 

to pass by land through 
Germany. There he 
was recognized by his 
enemies, ajid kept pris- 
oner till he paid a 
heavy ransom. Then, 
after his release, he 
found himself engaged 
in troubles with his 
brother John, and in 
war with King Philip; 
and at last, in the year 
1 1 99, he died from an 
arrow wound while 
fighting in France. 

The remaining Cru- 
sades are not of so 
much importance as the 
First and the Third. 
On the Fourth Cru- 
sade, the Crusaders were persuaded by the Vene- 
tians to attack the Christian city of Constantinople. 
In this way the Greek Empire passed for fifty years 
into the hands of the Latin Christians. As a result of 
the Fifth Crusade, Jerusalem was recovered for a 
while; but this was accomplished througli a treaty, 




MOVABLE TOWER. 



LATER CRUSADES. 135 

and not as the result of victories won by arms. The 
Sixth Crusade was led by the good king, St. Louis of 
France. The Crusaders now sought to attack the 
Saracens in Egypt; but they were defeated, and the 
French king himself was captured and forced to pay a 
heavy ransom. The last Crusade was the Seventh, 
which was also led by St. Louis of France. Now the 
Crusaders attacked the Saracens in Tunis. Again the 
Crusade was a failure, and this time the French king 
lost his life, through a sickness which broke out in the 
army. 

After this, for more than a century, popes and kings 
talked of crusades, and raised taxes and made prepara- 
tions for them. But though they fought the heathen 
in Prussia, and the Mohammedans in Spain and in 
Hungary, no more crusades went to the Holy Land 
to win the sepulchre of Christ from the infidel. Men 
no longer thought that this was so important as it had 
once seemed to them ; and no doubt they \\^re right. 
It doesn't make so much difference who rules the land 
where Christ lived and died; the great question is 
whether Christ lives and rules in the liearts and lives 
of those who follow Him. 

Although the Crusades failed in what they were 
intended to accomplish, they had some very important 
results. For nearly two hundred years men were 
going and coming in great numbers to and from .the 
Holy Land, seeing strange countries and strange 
peoples, and learning new customs. *Before the 
Crusades, each district lived by itself, and its in- 
habitants scarcely ever heard of the rest of the 
world. During the Crusades this separation w^s 



136 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

broken down, and peoples from all parts of Christen- 
dom met together. In this way men came to learn 
more of the world, and of the people who dwelt in 
it; and their minds were broadened by this knowl- 
edge. Never after the Crusades, as a result, was the 
life of man quite so dark, so dreary, and so narrow, as 
it had been before. From this time on, the Middle 
Ages gradually changed their character; for influences 
were now at work to bring this period to an end, and 
bring about the beginning of Modern Times. 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 137 



XIV 

Life of the Castle. 

BEFORE we consider what the influences were 
which brought the Middle Ages to a close, we 
must see more clearly what the life of that period was 
like. We will first read about the life of the castle, 
where lordly knights and gentle ladies dwelt. Then 
we will see what was the manner of life of the peasants 
who dwelt in the villages, and the merchants and 
craftsmen who dwelt in the cities and towns. Finally 
we will visit the monasteries, and see what was the 
life of the monks and nuns, who gave their lives to the 
service and praise of God. 

If you visit France, Germany, and other European 
countries to-day, you will find everywhere the ruins of 
massive stone castles, rearing their tall towers on the 
hilltops, and commanding the passage of roads and 
rivers. At the present time these are mostly tumbled 
down, and overgrown with moss and ivy, and nobody 
cares to live within their dark walls. But in the Mid- 
dle Ages it was not so. Then they were the safest 
places in which to live; so in spite of their cold and 
gloom, they became the centers of the life of the time. 
It was from the castles that the feudal barons ruled 
their lands. It was there that the people found refuge 




A CASTLE OF THE ELEVIiNTH CENTURY. 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 139 

from the attacks of Northmen and Hung-arians. It 
was from the castles that the Crusaders set out for the 
Holy Land. In them chivalry was born and flour- 
ished; at their gates tournaments, jousts, and other 
knightly festivals took place; and in their halls the 
wandering singers, who were building np a new liter- 
ature, found the readiest welcome and the most eager 
and appreciative listeners. 

Let us fancy ourselves back in the eleventh or 
twelfth century, and examine a castle. We shall find 
the country very different, we may be sure, from what 
it is to-day. Great thick furests stand where now 
there are flourishing towns; and everything has a 
wilder, more unsettled look. Here is a castle, in 
France, that will suit our purpose. It was built by 
one of the vassals of William the Conqueror, and has 
been the scene of many sieges and battles. See how 
everything is arranged S(j as to make easy its defence. 
It is built on the top of a steep hill ; and around its 
walls a deep ditch or moat is dug. At the outer edge 
of the moat we see a strong fence or palisade of heavy 
stakes set in the ground. Just inside this is a path, 
along which the sentries march in time of war. The 
gate, too, is doubly and triply guarded. In front of it 
is a drawbridge across the moat — indeed, there are 
two; and the space between is guarded by a protecting 
wall. In later days these drawbridges were made 
stronger and more complicated, and heavy towers with 
walls of masonry were built, the better to protect 
the entrance. 

When we have passed these outer works, we come to 
a heavy wooden door between two tall towers which 



140 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

mark the enticince to the walls. We pass through 
this, and find ourselves within the gateway. But we 
are still far from being in the castle. In the narrow 
vaulted passage-way before us, we see suspended a 
heavy iron grating, called the portcullis, which may 
come rattling down at any moment to bar our passage. 
And beyond this is another door; and beyond this 
another portcullis. The entrance to the castle is 
indeed well guarded ; and the porter who keeps watch 
at the gate, and has to open and shut all these bar- 
riers, is at times a busy man. 

At last we are past the gateway and find ourselves 
in an open courtyard. The thick walls of the castle 
surround us on all sides, and at their top we see the 
battlements and loopholes through which arrows may 
be shot at the enemy. Here and there the wall is pro- 
tected by stone towers, in which are stairways leading 
to the battlements above. In the first courtyard we 
find the stables, where the lord of the castle keeps his 
horses. Here, too, is space for the shelter of the vil- 
lagers in time of war ; and here, perhaps, is the great 
brick oven in which bread is baked to feed the lord 
and all his followers. 

Going on we come to a wall or palisade, which sep- 
arates the courtyard we are in from one lying beyond 
it. In later times this wall, too, was made much 
stronger than we find it here. Passing through a 
gateway, we come into the second courtyard. Here 
again we find a number of buildings, used for different 
purposes. In one are the storerooms and cellars, 
where provisions are kept to enable the dwellers in the 
castle to stand a siege. Next to this is a building 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 141 

shaped like a great jug, with a large chimney at the 
top, and smaller ones in a circle round about. This is 
the kitchen, in which the food is cooked for the lord of 
the castle and his household. The cooking, we may 
be sure, is usually simple, — most of the meats being 
roasted on spits over open fires, and elaborate dishes, 
with sauces and spices, being unknown. Most castles 
have, in addition, a small church or chapel in this 
courtyard, in which the inhabitants may worship. 

The most important building of all is still to be 
described. There at the end of the courtyard we see 
the tall '*keep" of the castle, which the French called 
"donjon," and in whose basement there are "dun- 
geons" indeed, for traitors and captured enemies. 
This is the true stronghold of the baron, and it is a 
secure retreat. Think of all the hard fighting there 
must be before the enemy can even reach it. The 
drawbridges must be crossed, the gates must be bat- 
tered down, and the portcullises pried up; the first 
courtyard must be cleared; the dividing wall must be 
carried ; the second courtyard also must be cleared of its 
defenders. And when the enemy, bruised and worn, 
at last arrive at the keep, their work is just begun. 
There the lord and his followers will make their last 
stand, and the fighting will be fiercer than ever. 

The walls of the keep are of stone, eight to ten feet 
thick ; and from the loopholes in its frowning sides peer 
skilled archers and crossbowmen, ready to let fly their 
bolts and arrows at all in sight. A long, long siege will 
be necessary, to starve out its defenders. If this is not 
done, movable towers must be erected, battering rams 
placed, stone-hurling machines brought up, blazing 



142 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

arrows shot at the roof and windows, and tunnels dug 
to undermine the walls. In this w^ay the castle may 
be burned, or an entrance at last be gained. But 
even then there will be fierce fighting in the narrow 
passageways, in the dimly-lighted halls, and on the 
winding stairways which lead from story to story. It 
will be long, indeed, before our lord's banner is torn 
from the summit of the tower, and his enemy's is 
placed in its stead! And even when all is lost, there 
still remain hidden stairways in the castle walls, 
underground passages opening into the moat, and the 
gate in the rear, through which the lord and his gar- 
rison may yet escape to the woods and open fields ; and 
so continue the battle another day. 

But let us inquire rather concerning the life of the 
castle in time of peace. Where and how does the lord 
and his household live? How are his children edu- 
cated? And with what do they amuse themselves in 
the long days when there is no enemy to attack their 
walls, and no distant expedition in which to engage ? 

Sometimes the lord and his family live in the upper 
stories of the huge donjon, where arms and supplies 
are always stored. But this is so gloomy, with its thick 
walls and narrow windows, that many lords build 
more comfortable * 'halls" in their courtyards, and 
prefer to live in these. Let us look in upon such a 
"hall," whether it is in the donjon, or in a separate 
building. There we find a great wide room, large 
enough to hold all the inhabitants of the castle, when 
the lord wishes to gather them about him. This is the 
real center of the life of the castle. Here the lord 
eats and sleeps ; here the great banquets are given ; 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. i43 

here he receives his vassals to do homage; here he 
plays chess and backgammon with his companions; 
and herein the evening the inmates gather, perchance 
to listen to the songs and tales of wandering minstrels. 

Within the castle are many people, occupying them- 
selves in many ways. In the courtyards are servants 
and dependents caring for the horses, cooking in the 
kitchen, and bnsily engaged in other occupations. 
Elsewhere are those whose duty it is to guard the 
castle — the porter at the gate, the watchman on the 
tower, and the men-at-arms to defend the walls in case 
of attack. Besides these we see many boys and young 
men who are evidently of too noble birth to be serv- 
ants, and yet are loo young to be warriors. Who can 
they be? 

These are the sons of the lord of the castle, and of 
other lords, who are learning to be knights. Their 
training is long and careful. Until he is seven 
years old, the little noble is left to the care of his 
mother and the women of the castle. At the age of 
seven his knightly education begins. Usually the boy 
is sent away from home to the castle of his father's 
lord, or some famous knight, there to be brought up 
and trained for knighthood. 

From the age of seven till he reaches the age of 
fourteen, the boy is called a page or "varlet, " 
which means "little vassal." There he waits upon 
the lord and lady of the castle. He serves them at 
table, and he attends them when they ride forth to the 
chase. From them he learns lessons of honor and 
bravery, of love and chivalry. Above all, he learns 
how to ride and handle a horse. 



144 THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

When the young noble has become a well-grown lad 
of fourteen or fifteen, he is made a *'squire. " Now it 
is his duty to look after his lord's horses and arms. 
The horses must be carefully groomed every morning, 
and the squire must see that their shoes are all right. 
He must also see that his lord's arms and armor are 
kept bright and free from rust. When the lord goes 
forth to war, his squire accompanies him, riding on a 
big strong horse, and carrying his lord's shield and 
lance. When the lord goes into battle, his squire 
must stay near, leading a spare steed and ready to 
hand his master fresh weapons at any moment. After 
several years of this service, the squire may himself 
be allowed to use weapons and fight at his lord's side; 
and sometimes he may even be allowed to ride forth 
alone in search of adventures. 

In this manner the squire learns the business of a 
knight, which is fighting. But he also learns his 
amusements and accomplishments. 

Let us approach a group of squires in the castle hall, 
when their work is done, and they are tired of chess 
and backgammon. They are discussing, perhaps, as 
to which is the more interesting, hunting or falconry; 
and we may hear a delicate featured squire hold forth 
in this way: 

-'What can be prettier than a bright-eyed, well- 
trained falcon hawk? And what can be pleasanter 
than the sport of flying it at the birds? Take some 
fine September morning, when the sky is blue and the 
air is fresh, and our lord and lady ride forth with 
their attendants. Each carries his falcon on his 
gloved left hand, and we hurry forward in pursuit of 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 



145 



cranes, herons, clucks, and other birds. When one is 
sighted, a falcon is unhooded, and let fly at it. The 
falcon's bells tinkle merrily as it rises. Soon it is in 
the air above the game, and swift as an arrow it darts 
upon the prey, plunging its talons into it, and crouch- 
ing over it until the hunter gallops up to recover both 
falcon and prey. This is the finest hunting. And 




A LADY HAWKING. 



what skill is necessary, too, in rearing and training 
the birds! Ah, falconry is the sport for me!" 

But this does not seem to be the opinion of most of 
the group. Their views are expressed by a tall, 
strongly-built squire, who says : 

'* Falconry is all right for women and boys, but it is 
not the sport for men. What are your falcons to my 



146 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

hounds and harriers! The education of one j^ood 
boar-hound, I can tell you, requires as much care as 
all your falcons ; and when you are done the dog loves 
you, and that is more than you can say for your hawks. 
And the chase itself is far more exciting. The hounds 
are uncoupled, and set yelping upon the scent, and 
away we dash after them, plunging through the 
woods, leaping glades and streams in our haste. At 
last we reach the spot where the game has turned at 
bay, and find an enormous boar, defending himself 
stoutly and fiercely against the hounds. Right and 
left he rolls the dogs. With his back bristling with 
rage, he charges straight for the huntsmen. Look 
out, now; for his sharp tusks cut like a knife! But 
the huntsmen are skilled, and the dogs play well their 
part. Before the beast can reach man or horse, he is 
pierced by a dozen spears, and is nailed to the ground, 
dead! Isn't this a nobler sport than hawking?" 

So, we may be sure, most of the knights and squires 
will agree. But the ladies, and many of the squires 
and knights, will still love best the sport of falconry. 

In this way the squire spends his days until he 
reaches the age of twenty or twenty-one. He has 
now proved both his courage and his skill, and at last 
his lord says that he has "earned his spurs." 

So the squire is to be made a knight; and this is the 
occasion for great festivities. In company with other 
squires who are candidates for knighthood, he must go 
through a careful preparation. First comes the bath, 
which is the mark of purification. Then he puts on 
garments of red, white, and black. The red means 
the blood he is willing to shed in defence of the 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 



147 



Church and of the oppressed; the white means that his 
mind is pure and clean ; and the black is to remind 
him of death, which comes to all. 

Next comes the "watching of the arms." All night 
the squires keep watch, fasting and praying, before 
the altar in the church on which their arms have been 




ARMING THE KNIGHT. 



placed; and though they may stand or kneel, they 
must on no account sit or lie down. At the break of 
day the priest comes. After they have each confessed 
their sins to him, they hear mass and take the holy 
sacrament. Perhaps, too, the priest preaches a ser- 
mon on the proud duties of a knight, and the obliga- 
tions which they owe to God and the Church. 

At last the squires assemble in the courtyard of the 



148 



77/ A" S7V/x]' OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



castle, or in some open place outside the walls. There 
they find great numbers of knights and ladies who 
have come to grace the occasion of their knighting. 
Each squire in turn now takes his place on a carpet 
which is spread on the ground, and his friends and 
relatives assist in girding on his armor and his sword. 



.;P^ 


^^^^^^ 


m. ;«: 


m 1 


■■■■ 














n 


LyUI 


^^^^^Bm 









A CREAT FEAST IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.' 



Then comes the most trying moment of all. His 
father or his lord advances and gives him what is 
called the "accolade." At first this was a heavy blow 
with the fist, given upon the squire's neck; but later 
it was with the flat of a sword upon his shoulder. At 

' The birds flying about have been "baked in a pie," as in the 
old song, and falcons are now loosed at them. 



LIFE OF THE CASTLE. 149 

the same time the person who gives the accolade cries 
out: 

"In the name of God, and St. Michael, and St. 
George, I dub thee knight! Be brave and loyal!" 

The squire is now a knight, but the festival is not 
yet over. The new-made knights must first give an 
exhibition of their skill in riding and handling their 
horses, and in striking with their lances marks which 
are set up for them to ride at. Then comes fencing 
with their swords on horseback. The day is wound 
up with a great feast, and music and the distribution 
of presents. 

Then, at last, the guests depart; and the new-made 
knights go off to bed, to dream of Saracens to be 
fought in the Holy Land, and dragons to be slain, and 
wicked knights to be encountered, — and above all, of 
beautiful maidens to be rescued and served with loyalty 
and love. 

So they dream the dreams of chivalry; and when 
they awaken, the better ones among them will seek to 
put their dreams into action. 



ISO THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



XV 

Life of the Village and Town. 

ONE thing about the life of the knights and squires 
has not yet been explained; that is, how they 
were supported. They neither cultivated the fields, 
nor manufactured articles for sale, nor engaged in 
commerce. How, then, were they fed and clothed, 
and furnished with their expensive armor and horses? 
How, in short, was all this life of the castle kept up, 
— with its great buildings, its constant wars, its costly 
festivals, and its idleness? 

We may find the explanation of this in the saying of 
a bishop who lived in the early part of the Middle 
Ages. "God," said he, "divided the human race from 
the beginning into three classes. These were, the 
priests, whose duty it was to pray and serve God; the 
knights, whose duty it was to defend society; and the 
peasants, whose duty it was to till the soil and support 
by their labor the other classes." This, indeed, was 
the arrangement as it existed during the whole of the 
Middle Ages. The "serfs" and "villains" who tilled 
the soil, together with the merchants and craftsmen of 
the towns, bore all the burden of supporting the more 
picturesque classes above them. 

The peasants were called "serfs" and "villains," 
and their position was very curioTis. For several miles 
about the castle, all the land belonged to its lord, and 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 



15 



was called, in England, his "manor." He did not 
own the land outright, — for, as yon know, he did 
homage and fealty for it to his lord or "suzerain," and 
the latter in turn owed homage and fealty to his 




PLAN OF VILLAGE. 



"suzerain," and so on up to the king. Neither did 
the lord of the castle keep all of the manor lands in 
his own hands. He did not wish to till the land him- 
self, so most of it was divided up and tilled by peas- 
ants, who kept their shares as long as they lived, and 



1 5 2 THE STOR V OF THE MIDDLE A GES. 

passed them on to their children after them. As long 
as the peasants performed the services and made the 
payments which they owed to the lord, the latter could 
not rightfully turn them out of their land. 

The part of the manor which the lord kept in his 
own hands was called his "domain," and we shall see 
presently how this was used. In addition there were 
certain parts which were used by the peasants as com- 
mon pastures for their cattle and sheep ; that is, they 
all had joint rights in this. Then there was the wood- 
land to which the peasants might each send a certain 
number of pigs to feed upon the beech nuts and acorns. 
Finally there was the part of the manor which was 
given over to the peasants to till. 

This was usually divided into three great fields, 
without any fences, walls, or hedges about them. In 
one of these we should find wheat growing, or some 
other grain that is sown in the winter; in another we 
should find a crop of some grain, such as oats, which 
requires to be sown in the spring; while in the third 
we should find no crop at all. The next year the 
arrangement would be changed, and again the next 
year. In this way, each field bore winter grain one 
year, spring grain the next, and the third year it was 
plowed several times and allowed to rest to recover its 
fertility. While resting it was said to '*lie fallow." 
Then the round was repeated. This whole arrangement 
was due to the fact that people in those days did not 
know as much about "fertilizers" and "rotation of 
crops" as we do now. 

The most curious arrangement of all was the way 
the cultivated land was divided up. Each peasant had 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 



153 



from ten to forty acres of land which he cultivated; 
and part of this lay in each of the three fields. But 
instead of lying all together, it was scattered about in 
long narrow strips, each containing- about an acre, 
with strips of unplowed sod separating the plowed 
strips from one another. This was a very unsatisfac- 
tory arrangement, because each peasant had to waste 
so much time in going from one strip to his next; and 
nobody has ever been able to explain quite clearly how 
it ever came about. But this is the arrangement 
which prevailed in almost all civilized countries 




PLOWING. 



throughout the whole of the Middle Ages, and indeed 
in some places for long afterward. 

In return for the land which* the peasant held from 
his lord, he owed the latter many payments and many 
services. He paid fixed sums of money at different 
times during the year; and if his lord or his lord's 
suzerain knighted his eldest son, or married off his 
eldest daughter, or went on a crusade, or was taken 
captive and had to be ransomed, — then the peasant 
must pay an additional sum. At Easter and at other 
fixed times the peasant brought a gift of eggs or 
chickens to his lord ; and he also gave the lord one or 



154 



THE STORY OF TIIK MIDDLE AGES. 



more of his lambs and pigs each year for the use of 
the pasture. At harvest time the lord received a por- 
tion of the grain raised on the peasant's land. In 
addition the peasant must grind his grain at his lord's 
mill, and pay the charge for this; he must also bake 
his bread in the great oven which belonged to the lord, 
and use his lord's presses in making his cider and 
wine, paying for each. 

These payments were sometimes burdensome 
enough, but they were not nearly so burdensome as 
the services which the peasants owed their lord. All 




HARROWING, 



the labor of cultivating the lord's "domain" land 
was performed by them. They plowed it with their 
great clumsy plows and ox-teams ; they harrowed it, 
and sowed it, and weeded it, and reaped it ; and finally 
they carted the sheaves to the lord's barns and threshed 
them by beating with great jointed clubs or "flails." 
And when the work was done, the grain belonged 
entirely to the lord. About two days a week were 
spent this way in working on the lord's domain; and 
the peasants could only work on their own lands 
between times. In addition, if the lord decided to 
build new towers, or a new gate, or to erect new 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN, i5S 

buildings in the castle, the peasants had to carry stone 
and mortar for the building and help the paid masons 
in every way possible. And when the demands of 
their lord were satisfied, there were still other 
demands made upon them; for every tenth sheaf of 
grain, and every tenth ^'g%, lamb and chicken, had to 
be given to the Church as "tithes." 




^ ^^ 
THRESHING. 



The peasants did not live scattered about the coun- 
try as our farmers do, but dwelt all together in an 
open village. If we should take our stand there on a 
day in spring, we should see much to interest us. On 
the hilltop above is the lord's castle; and near by is 
the parish church with the priest's house. In the dis- 
tance are the green fields, cut into long narrow strips; 
and in them we see men plowing and harrowing with 



156 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

teams of slow-moving oxen, while women are busy 
with hooks and tongs weeding the growing grain. 
Close at hand in the village we hear the clang of the 
blacksmith's anvil, and the miller's song as he carries 
the sacks of grain and flour to and from the mill. 
Dogs are barking, donkeys are braying, cattle are 
lowing; and through it all we hear the sound of little 
children at play or women singing at their work. 

The houses themselves were often little better than 
wooden huts thatched with straw or rushes, though 
sometimes they were of stone. Even at the best they 
were dark, dingy, and unhealthful. Chimneys were 
just beginning to be used in the Middle Ages for the 
castles of the great lords; but in the peasants' houses 
the smoke was usually allowed to escape through the 
doorway. The door was often made so that the upper 
half could be left open for this purpose, while the 
lower half was closed. The cattle were usually 
housed under the same roof with the peasant's fam- 
ily ; and in some parts of Europe this practice is still 
followed. 

Within the houses we should not find very much 
furniture. Here is a list of the things which one family 
owned in the year 1345 : 

2 feather beds, 15 linen sheets, and 4 striped yellow 
counterpanes. 

1 hand-mill for grinding meal, a pestle and mortar 
for pounding grain, 2 grain chests, a kneading 
trough, and 2 ovens over which coals could be 
heaped for baking. 

2 iron tripods on which to hang kettles over the fire ; 
2 metal pots and i large kettle. 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 157 

1 metal bowl, 2 brass water jugs, 4 bottles, a copper 
box, a tin washtub, a metal warming-pan, 2 large 
chests, a box, a cupboard, 4 tables on trestles, a 
large table, and a bench. 

2 axes, 4 lances, a crossbow, a scythe, and some other 
tools. 

The food and clothing of the peasant were coarse 
and simple, but were usually sufficient for his needs. 
At times, however, war or a succession of bad seasons 
would bring famine upon a district. Then the suffer- 
ing would be terrible; for there were no provisions 
saved up, and the roads were so bad and communica- 
tion so difficult that it was hard to bring supplies from 
other regions where there was plenty. At such times, 
the peasants suffered most. They were forced to eat 
roots, herbs, and the bark of trees; and often they 
died by hundreds for want of even such food. 

Thus you will see that the lot of the'peasant was a 
hard one ; and it was often made still harder by the 
cruel contempt which the nobles felt for those whom 
they looked upon as "base-born." The name "vil- 
lains" was given the peasants because they lived 
in villages; but the nobles have handed down the 
name as a term of reproach. In a poem, which 
was written to please the nobles no doubt, the writer 
scolds at the villain because he was too well fed, and, 
as he says, "made faces" at the clergy. "Ought he 
to eat fish?" the poet asks, "Let him eat thistles, 
briars, thorns, and straw, on Sunday, for fodder; and 
pea-husks during the week ! Let him keep watch all 
his days, and have trouble. Thus ought villains to 
live. Ought he to eat meats? He ought to go naked 



T58 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

on all fours, and crop herbs with the horned cattle 
in the fields!" 

Of course there were many lords who did not feel 
this way towards their peasants. Ordinarily the 
peasant was not nearly so badly off as the slave in the 
Greek and Roman days; and often, perhaps, he was 
as well off as many of the peasants of Europe to-day. 
But there was this difference between his position and 
that of the peasant now. Many of them could not 
leave their lord's manors and move elsewhere without 
their lord's permission. If they did so, their lord 
could pursue them and bring them back; but if they 
succeeded in getting to a free town, and dwelt there 
for a year and a day without being re-captured, then 
they became freed from their lord, and might dwell 
where they wished. 

This brings us to consider now the Towns during the 
Middle Ages. 

The Germans had never lived in cities in their 
old homes; so when they came into the Roman 
Empire they preferred the free life of the country to 
settling within town walls. The old Roman cities 
which had sprung up all over the Empire had already 
lost much of their importance; and under these coun- 
try-loving conquerors they soon lost what was left. In 
many places the inhabitants entirely disappeared; 
other places decreased in size; and all lost the rights 
which they had had of governing themselves. The 
inhabitants of the towns became no better off than 
the peasants who lived in the little villages. In both 
the people lived by tilling the soil. In both the lord 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. i59 

of the district made laws, appointed officers, and 
settled disputes in his own court. There was little 
difference indeed between the villages and towns, 
except a difference in size. 

This was the condition of things during the early 
part of the Middle Ages, while feudalism was slowly 
arising, and the nobles were beating back the attacks 
of the Saracens, the Hungarians, and the Northmen. 
At last, in the tenth and the eleventh centuries, as we 
have seen, this danger was overcome. Now men 
might travel from place to place without constant 
danger of being robbed or slain. Commerce and 
manufactures began to spring up again, and the 
people of the towns supported themselves by these as 
well as by agriculture. With commerce and manu 
factures, too, came riches. This was especially true 
in Italy and Southern France, where the townsmen 
were able by their position to take part in the trade 
with Constantinople and Egypt, and also to gain 
money by carrying pilgrims and Crusaders in their 
ships to the Holy Land. With riches, too, came 
power; and with power came the desire to free them- 
selves from the rale of their lord. 

So, all over civilized Europe, during the eleventh, 
twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, we find new towns 
arising, and old ones getting the right to govern them- 
selves. In Italy the towns gained power first; then in 
Southern France; then in Northern France; and then 
along the valley of the river Rhine, and the coasts of 
the Baltic Sea. Sometimes the towns bought their 
freedom from their lords ; sometimes they won it after 
long struggles and much fighting. Sometimes the 



-v^yr^rr^ ■ :7T?y ij^^j !{ « :? - :;»-• ' ■; •: 




CATHEDRAL OF COLOGNE. 



LIFE OF THE \^ILLAGE AND TOWN. i6i 

nobles and the clergy were wise enough to join with 
the townsmen, and share in the benefits which the 
toAvn brought; sometimes they fought them foolishly 
and bitterly. In Germany and in Italy the power of 
the kings was not great enough to make much differ- 
ence one way or the other. In France the kings 
favored the towns against their lords, and used them 
to break down the power of the feudal nobles. Then, 
when the king's power had become so strong that they 
no longer feared the nobles, they checked the power of 
the towns lest they in turn might become powerful 
and independent. 

Thus, in different ways and at different times, there 
grew up the cities of medieval Europe. In Italy there 
sprang up the free cities of Venice, Florence, Pisa, 
Genoa, and others, where scholars and artists were to 
arise and bring a new birth to learning and art; 
where, also, daring seamen were to be trained, like 
Columbus, Cabot, and Vespucius, to discover, in 
later times, the New World. In France the citizens 
showed their skill by building those beautiful Gothic 
cathedrals which are still so much admired. In 
the towns of Germany and Holland clever work- 
men invented and developed the art of printing, 
and so made possible the learning and education of 
to-day. The civilization of modern times, indeed, 
owes a great debt to these old towns and their sturdy 
inhabitants. 

Let us see now what those privileges were which the 
townsmen got, and which enabled them to help on the 
world's progress so much. To us these privileges 
would not seem so very great. In hundreds of towns 



i62 77/7: .s7()7vM' OF TlIK MIDDLE AGES. 

in France the lords granted only such rights as the 
following: 

1. The townsmen shall pay only small fixed sums 
for the rent of their lands, and as a tax when they sell 
goods, etc. 

2. They shall not be obliged to go to war for their 
lord, nnless they can return the same day if they 
choose. 

3. When they have law-suits, the townsmen shall 
not be obliged to go outside the town to have them 
tried. 

4. No charge shall be made for the use of the town 
oven; and the townsmen may gather the dead wood in 
the lord's forest for fuel. 

5. The townsmen shall be allowed to sell their 
property when they wish, and leave the town without 
hindrance from the lord. 

6. Any peasant who remains a year and a day in the 
town, without being claimed by his lord, shall be free. 

In other places the townsmen got in addition the 
right to elect their own judges ; and in still others they 
got the right to elect all their officers. Towns of this 
latter class were sometimes called "communes." 
Over them the lord had very little right, except to 
receive such sums of money as it was agreed should 
be paid to him. In some places, as in Italy, these com- 
munes became practically independent, and had as 
much power as the lords themselves. They made 
laws, and coined money, and had their vassals, and 
waged war just as the lords did. But there was this 
important difference: in the communes the rights 
belonged to the citizens as a whole, and not to one 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 163 

person. This made all the citizens feel an interest in 
the town affairs, and produced an enterprising, deter- 
mined spirit among them. At the same time, the 
citizens were trained in the art of self-government in 
using these rights. In this way the world was being 
prepared for a time when governments like ours, "of 
the people, for the people, and by the people," should 
be possible. 

But this was to come only after many, many years. 
The townsmen often used their power selfishly, and in 
the interest of their families and their own class. 
Often the rich and powerful townsmen were as cruel 
and harsh toward the poorer and weaker classes as 
the feudal lords themselves. Fierce and bitter strug- 
gles often broke out in the towns, between the citizens 
who had power, and those who had none. Often, too, 
there were great family quarrels, continued from 
generation to generation, like the one which is told of 
in Shakespeare's play, "Romeo and Juliet." In Italy 
there came in time to be two great parties called the 
"Guelfs" and the "Ghibellines." At first there was 
a real difference in views between them ; but by and 
by they became merely two rival factions. Then 
Guelfs were known from Ghibellines by the way they 
cut their fruit at table; by the color of roses they 
wore; by the way they yawned, and spoke, and were 
clad. Often the struggles and brawls became so fierce 
in a city that to get a little peace the townsmen would 
call in an outsider to rule over them for a while. 
With the citizens so divided among themselves, it will 
not surprise you to learn that the communes every- 
where at last lost their independence. They passed 



164 



77//-; SrORV OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



under the rule of the king, as in France; or else, as 
happened in Italy, they fell into the power of some 
"tyrant" or local lord. 

But let us think, not of the weaknesses and mistakes 
of these old townsmen, but of their earnest, busy life, 

and its quaint sur- 
roimdings. 

Imagine yourself a 
peasant lad, fleeing 
from your lord or 
coming for the first 
time to the market in 
the city. As we ap- 
proach the city gates 
we see that the walls 
are strong and 
crowned with tur- 
rets; and the gate is 
defended with draw- 
bridge and portcullis 
like the entrance to 
a castle. Within, are 
n a r r o w, winding 
streets, with rows of 
tall-roofed houses, 
each with its gar- 
den attached. The houses themselves are more 
like our houses to-day than like the Greek and Roman 
ones; for they have no courtyard in the interior and 
are several stories high. The roadway is unpaved, 
and full of mud;, and there are no sewers. If you 
walk the streets after nightfall, you must carry a torch 




A MEDIEVAL SlIOl', 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 165 

to light your footsteps, for there arc no street-lamps. 
There are no policemen; but if you are out after dark, 
you must beware the "city watch," who take turns in 
guarding the city, for they will make you give a strict 
account of yourself. 

Now, however, it is day, and we need have no fear. 
Presently we come into the business parts of the city, 
and there we find the different trades grouped together 
in different streets. Here are the goldsmiths, and 
there are the tanners ; here the cloth merchants, and 
there the butchers; here the armor-smiths, and there 
the money-changers. The little shops are all on the 
ground floor, with their wares exposed for sale in the 
open windows. Let us look in at one of the gold- 
smiths' shops. The shop-keeper and his wife are busily 
engaged waiting on customers and inviting passers-by 
to stop and examine their goods. Within we see 
several men and boys at work, making the goods which 
their master sells. There the gold is melted and 
refined ; the right amount of alloy is mixed with it ; 
then it is cast, beaten, and filed into the proper shape. 
Then perhaps the article is enameled and jewels are 
set in it. All of these things are done in this one little 
shop; and so it is for each trade. The workmen must 
all begin at the beginning, and start with the rough 
material; and the "apprentices," as the boys are called, 
must learn each of the processes by which the raw 
material is turned into the finished article. 

Thus a long term of apprenticeship is necessary for 
each trade, lasting sometimes for ten years. During 
this time the boys are fed, clothed and lodged with 
their master's family above the shop, and receive no 



1 66 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

pay. If they misbehave, he has the ri<;ht to punish 
them; and if they run away, he can pursue them and 
bring them back. Their life, however, is not so hard 
as that of the peasant boys; and through it all they look 
forward to the time when their apprenticeship shall be 
completed. Then they will become full members of 
the "guild" of their trade, and may work for what- 
ever master they please. For a while they may wan- 
der from city to city, working now for this master and 
now for that. In each city they will find the workers 
at their trade all united together into a guild, with 
a charter from the king or other lord which permits 
them to make rules for the carrying on of that busi- 
ness and to shut out all persons from it who have not 
served a regular apprenticeship. But the more ambi- 
tious boys will not be content with a mere workman's 
life. They will look forward still further to a time 
when they shall have saved up money enough to start 
in business for themselves. Then they too will become 
masters, with workmen and apprentices under them ; 
and perhaps, in course of time, if they grow in wealth 
and wisdom, they may be elected rulers over the city. 
So we find the apprentices of the different trades 
working and dreaming. We leave them to their 
dreams and pass on. As we wander about we find 
many churches and chapels; and perhaps we come 
after a while to a great "cathedral" or bishop's church, 
rearing its lofty roof to the sky. No pains have been 
spared to make this as grand and imposing as pos- 
sible; and we gaze upon its great height with awe, 
and wonder at the marvelously quaint and clever 
patterns in which the stone is carved. 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 167 

We leave this also after a time ; and then we come 
to the "belfrey" or town-hall. This is the real center 
of the life of the city. Here is the strong square 
tower, like the "donjon" of a castle, where the towns- 
men may make their last stand in case an enemy suc- 
ceeds in entering their walls, and they cannot beat him 
back in their narrow streets. On top of the tower is 




A FAIR IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 

the bell, with watchmen always on the lookout to give 
the signal in case of fire or danger. The bell is also 
used for more peaceful purposes, as it gives the signal 
each morning and evening for the workmen all over 
the city to begin and to quit work; and it also sum- 
mons the citizens from time to time, to public meet- 
ing. Within the tower are dungeons for prisoners. 



1 08 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE ACES. 

and meeting rooms for the rulers of the city. There 
also are strong- rooms where the city money is kept, 
together with the city seal. Lastly there is the charter 
which gives the city its liberties; this is the most 
precious of all the city possessions. 

Even in ordinary times the city presents a bustling, 
busy appearance. If it is a city which holds a fair once 
or twice a year, what shall we say of it then? For 
several weeks at such times the city is one vast store. 
Strange merchants come from all parts of the land 
and set up their booths and stalls along the streets, 
and the city shops are crowded with goods. For miles 
about the people throng in to buy the things they 
need. On page 167 is a picture of the streets of a city 
during fair-time in the thirteenth century. In the 
middle of the picture we see a townsman and his wife 
returning home after making their purchases. Behind 
them are a knight and his attendant, on horseback, pick- 
ing their way through the crowd. On the right hand 
side of the street is the shop of a cloth merchant; and 
we see the merchant and his wife showing goods to 
customers, while workmen are unpacking a box in the 
street. Next door is a tavern, with its sign hung out; 
and near this we see a cross which some pious person 
has erected at the street corner.^ On the left-hand 
side of the street we see a cripple begging for alms. 
Back of him is another cloth-merchant's shop; and 
next to this is a money-changer's table, where a group 
of people are having money weighed to see that there 
is no cheating in the payment. Beyond this is an 
elevated stage, on which a company of tumblers anO 
jugglers are performing, with a crowd of people about 



LIFE OF THE VILLAGE AND TOWN. 169 

them. In the background we see some tall-roofed 
houses, topped with turrets, and beyond these we can 
just make out the spire of a church rising- to the sky. 
This is indeed a busy scene ; and it is a picture which 
we may carry away with us. It well shows the energy 
and the activity which, during the later Middle Ages, 
made the towns the starting-place for so many impor- 
tant movements. 



I70 THE SruUV OF THE MID DEE AGES, 



XVI 

Life of the Monastery. 

IN the last two chapters we have studied the life of 
the castle, of the village, and of the town. We 
must now see what the life of the monastery was like. 

In the Middle Ages men thought that storms and 
lightning, famine and sickness, were signs of the wrath 
of God, or were the work of evil spirits. The world 
was a terrible place to them, and the wickedness and 
misery with which it was filled made them long to 
escape from it. Great numbers, therefore, abandoned 
the world and became monks, to serve God and save 
their souls. In this way monasteries arose on every 
hand, and in every Christian land. 

It was not long before men began to feel the need 
of rules to govern the monasteries. If the monks were 
left each to do what he thought best, there would be 
trouble of all sorts. A famous monk named Benedict 
drew up a series of rules for his monastery, and these 
served the purpose so well that they were adopted for 
many others. In course of time the monasteries of 
all Western Europe were put under "the Benedictine 
rule," as it was called. The dress of the monks was 
to be of coarse woolen cloth, with a cowl or hood 
which could be pulled up to protect the head; and 
about the waist a cord was worn for a girdle. The 



LIFE OF THE MONASTERY. 171 

gown of the Benedictines was usually black, so they 
were called "black monks." As the centuries went 
by, new orders were founded, with new rules; but 
these usually took the rule of St. Benedict and merely 
changed it to meet new conditions. In this way arose 
"white monks," and monks of other names. In addi- 
tion, orders of "friars" were founded, who were like 
the monks in many ways, but lived more in the world, 
preaching, teaching, and caring for the sick. These 
were called "black friars," "gray friars," or "white 
friars," according to the color of their dress. Besides 
the orders for men, too, there were orders for women, 
who were called "nuns"; and in some places nunneries 
became almost as common as monasteries. 

Let us try now to see what a Benedictine monastery 
was like. One of Benedict's rules provided that every 
monastery should be so arranged that everything the 
monks needed would be in the monastery itself, and 
there would be no need to wander about outside ; 
"for this," said Benedict, "is not at all good for their 
souls." Each monastery, therefore, became a settle- 
ment complete in itself. It not only had its halls 
where the monks ate and slept, and its own church; it 
also had its own mill, its own bake-oven, and its own 
workshops where the monks made the things they 
needed. The better to shut out the world, and to 
protect the monastery against robbers, the buildings 
were surrounded by a strong wall. Outside this lay 
the fields of the monastery, where the monks them- 
selves raised the grain they needed, or which were 
tilled for them by peasants in the same way that the 
lands of the lords were tilled. Finally, there was the 



172 



THE STORY OF THE Af/JJDLE AGES. 



woodland, where the swine were herded; and the pas- 
ture lands, where the cattle and sheep were sent to 
graze. The amount of land belonging to a monastery 
was often quite large. Nobles and kings frequently 
gave gifts of land, and the monks in return prayed for 
their souls. Often when the land came into the pos- 
session of the monks, it was covered with swamps 




A GERMAN MONASTERY 



or forests; but by unwearying labor the swamps 
were drained and the forests felled; and soon smiling 
fields appeared where before there was only a wilder- 
ness. 

Above is the picture of a German monastery, at 
the close of the Middle Ages. There we see the 
strong wall, surrounded by a ditch, inclosing the 



LIFE OF THE MONASTERY. 



173 



buildings, and protecting the monastery from attack. 
To enter the inclosure we must cross the bridge and 
present ourselves at the gate. When we have passed 
this we see to the left stables for cattle and horses, 
while to the right are gardens of herbs for the cure of 
the sick. Near by is the monks' graveyard with the 
graves marked by little crosses. In the center of the 
inclosure are work- 
s h o p s, where the 
monks work at differ- 
ent trades. The tall 
building with the 
spires crowned with 
the figures of saints, 
is the church, where 
the monks hold serv- 
ices at regular in- 
tervals throughout 
the day and night. 

Adjoining this, in the form of a square, are the build- 
ings in which the monks sleep and eat. This is the 
"cloister," and is the principal part of the monastery. 
In southern lands this inner square or cloister was 
usually surrounded on all sides by a porch or piazza, 
the roof of which was supported on long rows of pil- 
lars; and here the monks might pace to and fro in 
quiet talk when the duties of worship and labor did 
not occupy their time. In addition to these buildings, 
there are many others which we cannot stop to de- 
scribe. Some are used to carry on the work of the 
monastery ; some are for the use of the abbot, who is 
the ruler of the monks; some are hospitals for the 




A FRENCH CLOISTER. 



174 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

sick ; and some are guest chambers, where travellers 
are lodged over night. 

In the guest chambers the travellers might sleep 
undisturbed all the night through; but it was not so 
with the monks. They must begin their worship long 
before the sun was up. Soon after midnight the bell 
of the monastery rings, the monks rise from their hard 
beds, and gather in the church, to recite prayers, read 
portions of the Bible, and sing psalms. Not less than 
twelve of the psalms of the Old Testament must be 
read each night at this service. At daybreak again 
the bell rings, and once more the monks gather in the 
church. This is the first of the seven services which 
are held during the day. The others come at sev^en 
o'clock in the morning, at nine o'clock, at noon, at 
three in the afternoon, at six o'clock, and at bed-time. 
At each of these there are prayers, reading from the 
Scriptures, and chanting of psalms. Latin was the 
only language used in the church services of the West 
in the Middle Ages ; so the Bible was read, the psalms 
sung, and the prayers recited in this tongue. The 
services are so arranged that in the course of every 
week the entire psalter or psalm book is gone 
through; then, at the Sunday night service, they begin 
again. 

Besides these services, there are many other things 
which the monks must do. "Idleness," wrote St. 
Benedict, "is the enemy of the soul." So it was 
arranged that at fixed hours during the day the monks 
should labor with their hands. Some plowed the 
fields, harrowed them, and planted and harvested the 
grain. Others worked at various trades in the work- 



LIFE OF THE MONA S TER V. 175 

shops of the monasteries. If any brother showed too 
much pride in his work, and put himself above the 
others because of his skill, he was made to work at 
something else. The monks must be humble at all 
times. "A monk," said Benedict, "must always show 
humility, — not only in his heart, but with his body 
also. This is so whether he is at work, or at prayer; 
whether he is in the monastery, in the garden, in the 
road, or in the fields. Everywhere, — sitting, walking, 
or standing, — let him always be with head bowed, his 
looks fixed upon the ground; and let him remember 
every hour that he is guilty of his sins." 

One of the most useful labors which the monks per- 
formed was the copying and writing of books. At 
certain hours of the day, especially on Sundays, the 
brothers were required by Benedict's rule to read and 
to study. In the Middle Ages, of course, there were no 
printing presses, and all books were "manuscript," that 
is, they were copied a letter at a time, by hand. So in 
each well-regulated monastery there was a writing- 
room, or "scriptorium," where some of the monks 
worked copying manuscripts. The writing was usually 
done on skins of parchment. These the monks cut to 
the size of the page, rubbing the surface smooth with 
pumice stone. Then the margins were marked and 
the lines ruled with sharp awls. The writing was 
done with pens made of quills or of reeds, and with 
ink made of soot mixed with gum and acid. The 
greatest care was used in forming each letter, and at 
the beginning of the chapters a large initial was made. 
Sometimes these initials were really pictures, beauti- 
fully "illuminated" in blue, gold, and crimson. All 



176 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



this required skill and much pains. "He who does not 
know how to write," wrote one monk at the end of a 
manuscript, "imagines that it is no labor; but though 
only three fingers hold the pen, the whole body grows 
weary." And another one wrote: "I pray you, good 
readers who may use this book, do not forget him who 
copied it. It was a poor brother named Louis, who 

while he copied the 
volume (which was 
brought from a for- 
eign country) en- 
dured the cold, and 
was obliged to finish 
in the night what he 
could not write by 
day. ' ' 

The m o n k s, by 
copying books, did a 
great service to the 
world, for it was in 
this way that many 
valuable works were preserved during the Dark Ages, 
when violence and ignorance spread, and the love of 
learning had almost died out. In other ways, also, the 
monks helped the cause of learning. At a time when 
no one else took the trouble, or knew how, to write a 
history of the things that were going on, the monks in 
most of the great monasteries wrote "annals" or 
"chronicles" in which events were each year set down. 
And at a time when there were no schools except those 
provided by the Church, the monks taught boys to 
read and to write, so that there might always be 




MONK IN SCRIPTORIUM. 



LIFE OF THE A/ON A S TER V. 1 7 7 

learned men to carry on the work of religion. The 
education which they gave, and the books which 
they wrote, were, of course, in Latin, like the services 
of the Church ; for this was the only language of edu- 
cated men. 

The histories which the monks wrote were, no doubt, 
very poor ones, and the schools were not very good ; 
but they were ever so much better than none at all. 
Here is what a monk wrote in the "annals" of his 
monastery, as the history of the year 807; it will show 
us something about both the histories and the schools: 

"807. Grimoald, duke of Beneventum, died; and 
there was great sickness in the monastery of St. Boni- 
face, so that many of the younger brothers died. The 
boys of the monastery school beat their teacher and 
ran away. ' ' 

That is all we are told. Were the boys just unruly 
and naughty? Did they rebel at the tasks of school at 
a time when Charlemagne was waging his mighty 
wars; and did they long to become knights and 
warriors instead of priests and monks? Or was it on 
account of the sickness that they ran away? We can- 
not tell. That is the way it is with many things in 
the Middle Ages. Most of what we know about the 
history of that time we learn from the "chronicles" 
kept by the monks, and these do not tell us nearly all 
that we should like to know. 

The three most important things which were 
required of the monks were that they should have no 
property of their own, that they should not marry, 
and that they should obey those who were placed 
over them. "A monk," said Benedict, "should have 



1 78 THE STORY OF THE MI DOTE AGES. 

absolutely nothing, neither a book, nor a tablet, nor 
a pen." Even the clothes which they wore were 
the property of the monastery. If any gifts were 
sent them by their friends or relatives, they must 
turn them over to the abbot for the use of the monas- 
tery as a whole. The rule of obedience required that 
a monk, when ordered to do a thing, should do it 
without delay; and if impossible things were com- 
manded, he must at least make the attempt. The rule 
about marrying was equally strict; and in some 
monasteries it was counted a sin even to look upon a 
woman. 

Other rules forbade the monks to talk at certain 
times of the day and in their sleeping halls. For 
fear they might forget themselves at' the table, St. 
Benedict ordered that one of the brethren should 
always read aloud at meals from some holy book. All 
were required to live on the simplest and plainest 
food. The rules, indeed, were so strict, that it was 
often difficult to enforce them, especially after the 
monasteries became rich and powerful. Then, 
although the monks might not have any property of 
their own, they enjoyed vast riches belonging to the 
monastery as a whole, and often lived in luxury and 
idleness. When this happened there was usually a 
reaction, and new orders arose with stricter and 
stricter rules. So we have times of zeal and strict 
enforcement of the rules, followed by periods of 
decay; and these, in turn, followed by new periods of 
strictness. This went on to the close of the Middle 
Ages, when most of the monasteries were done away 
with. 



LIFE OF THE MONASTERY. 179 

When any one wished to become a monk, he had 
first to go through a trial. He must become a 
"novice" and live in a monastery, under its rules, for 
a year; then if he was still of the same mind, he took 
the vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. ''From 
that day forth," says the rule of St. Benedict, "he 
shall not be allowed to depart from the monastery, nor 
to shake from his neck the yoke of the Rule; for, after 
so long delay, he was at liberty either to receive it or 
to refuse it." 

When the monasteries had become corrupt, some 
men no doubt became monks in order that they might 
live in idleness and luxury. But let us think rather 
of the many men who became monks because they 
believed that this was the best way to serve God. 
Let us think, in closing, of one of the best of the 
monasteries of the Middle Ages, and let us look at its 
life through the eyes of a noble young novice. The 
monastery was in France, and its abbot, St. Bernard, 
was famous throughout the Christian world, in the 
twelfth century, for his piety and zeal. Of this 
monastery the novice writes: 

"I watch the monks at their daily services, and at 
their nightly vigils from midnight to the dawn; and 
as I hear them singing so holily and unwearyingly, 
they seem to me more like angels than men. Some of 
them have been bishops or rulers, or else have been 
famous for their rank and knowledge; now all are 
equal, and no one is higher or lower than any other. 
I see them in the gardens with the hoe, in the 
meadows with fork and rake, in the forests with the 
ax. When I remember what they have been, and 



i8o THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

consider their present condition and work, their poor 
and ill-made clothes, my heart tells me that they arc 
not the dull and speechless beings they seem, but that 
their life is hid with Christ in the heavens. 

"Farewell! God willin^-, on the next Sunday after 
Ascension Day, I too shall put on the armor of my 
profession as a monk!" 



PAPACY A ND EMPIRE. 1 8 1 



XVII 

Papacy and Empire. 

WE have seen, in another chapter, how the bishop 
of Rome became the head of the Western 
Church, with the title of Pope; and we have seen how 
Charlemagne restored the position, of Emperor as 
ruler of the West. We must now follow the history of 
these two great institutions, — the Papacy and the 
Empire, — and see how they got along together. 

After Gregory the Great died, it was long before the 
Church had a Pope who was so able and good ; and 
after Charlemagne was dead, it was long before there 
was another Emperor as great as he had been. Charle- 
magne's empire was divided by his grandsons, as we 
have seen, into three kingdoms ; and though the oldest 
of them received the title of Emperor, he had little of 
Charlemagne's power. Afterwards the descendants 
of Charlemagne grew weaker and weaker, and finally 
their power came entirely to an end. In Italy and 
Germany, as well as in France, the rule of the "Caro- 
lingians" ceased, and new rulers arose. In Germany 
it was the Saxons, whom Charlemagne had con- 
quered with so much difficulty, who now took the lead- 
ing part in the government. A new and stronger 
German kingdom was established, and then one of 
these Saxon kings — Otto I., who was rightly called 



i82 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Otto the Great — revived the empire which Charlemagne 
had founded. This was in the year 962, and Otto had 
already been King- for twenty-six years. After he 
became Emperor, Otto ruled over Italy as well as over 
Germany; and he proved to be as good a ruler as 
Emperor as he had been as King. One of the first 
things he did in Italy was to put the Papacy in a better 
condition. During the troubled times that had fol- 
lowed the fall of Charlemagne's empire, Italian nobles 
had controlled the Papacy for selfish ends. After 
many efforts it was taken from their control, and soon 
the position of the popes was higher than it had ever 
been. Then the question arose as to what their posi- 
tion should be towards the emperors. 

Just one hundred years after the death of Otto I., a 
man became Pope who had very decided opinions on 
this subject. His name was Hildebrand. He was 
the son of a poor carpenter, and was born in Italy, but 
he was of German origin. His uncle was the head of 
a monastery at Rome, and it was there that the boy 
was brought up and educated. When he became a 
man, he too became a monk. Circumstances soon led 
him to France, and there for a while he was a member 
of the most famous monastery of Europe — the one at 
Cluny, in Burgundy. 

Not only the Papacy, but the whole Church, had 
fallen into a bad condition at this time. Monks had 
ceased to obey the rules made for their government, 
and lived idly and often wickedly. Priests and 
bishops, instead of giving their attention to the 
churches which were under their care, spent their 
time like the nobles of that day, in hunting, in 



PAJ'ACV AND EMPIRE. 183 

pleasure, and in war. There were three evils which 
were especially complained of. First, priests, bish- 
ops, and even popes, often got their offices by pur- 
chase instead of being freely elected or appointed; 
this was called "simony." Second, the greater part 
of the clergy had followed the example of the Eastern 
Church, and married, so breaking the rule of "celib- 
acy," which required that they should not marry. 
This was especially harmful, because the married 
clergy sought to provide for their children by giving 
them lands and other property belonging to the 
Church. The third evil was the "investiture" of clergy- 
men by laymen. When a bishop, for example, was 
chosen, he was given the staff and the ring, which 
were the signs of his office, by the emperor or king, 
instead of by an archbishop; and this "investiture" by 
laymen made the clergy look more to the rulers of the 
land than to the rulers of the Church. 

The monastery of Cluny took the leading part in 
fighting against these evils. Its abbots joined to it 
other monasteries, which were purified and reformed, 
and in this way Cluny became the head of a "congre- 
gation" or union of monasteries which numbered 
many hundreds. Everywhere it raised the cry, "No 
simony; — celibacy; — and no lay investiture!" When 
Hildebrand came to Cluny this movement had been 
going on for some time, and much good had already 
been done. But it was through the efforts of Hilde- 
brand himself that the movement was to win its 
greatest success. 

After staying at Cluny for some months, Hildebrand 
returned to Rome. There for almost a quarter of a 



I §4 ///A' STOKV OF THE MIDDLE AGES, 

century, under five successive popes, he was the chief 
adviser and helper of the Papacy. Several times the 
people of Rome wished to make Hildebrand Pope, but 
he refused. At last, when the fifth of these popes had 
died, he was forced to submit. In the midst of the 
funeral services, a cry arose from the clergy and the 
people: 

"Hildebrand is Pope! St. Peter chooses Hildebrand 
to be Pope ! ' ' 

When Hildebrand sought again to refuse the office, 
his voice was drowned in cries: 

"It is the will of St. Peter! Hildebrand is Pope!" 

So he was obliged at last to submit. Unwillingly, it 
is said, and with tears in his eyes, he was led to the 
papal throne. There he was clothed with the scarlet 
robe, and crowned with the papal crown; then, at 
length, he was seated in the chair of St. Peter, where 
so many popes had sat before him. In accordance 
with the custom, he now took a new name, and as 
Pope he was always called Gregory VII. 

The Emperor at this time was Henry IV., who had 
been ruler over Germany ever since he was six years 
old. One of his guardians had let the boy have his 
own wajT" in. everything; so, although he was well- 
meaning, he had grown up without self-control, and 
with many bad habits. Gregory was determined to 
make the Emperor giv^e up the right of investiture, and 
also tried to force him to reform his manner of living. 
Henry, for his part, was just as determined never to 
give up any right which the emperors had had before 
him, and complained bitterly of the pride and haughti- 
ness of the Pope. 



PA PACY AND EMPIRE. 1 8 5 

A quarrel was the result, which lasted for almost 
fifty years. The question to be settled was not merely 
the right of investiture. It included also the question 
whether the Emperor was above the Pope, or the Pope 
above the Emperor. Charlemagne and Otto I., and 
other emperors, had often come into Italy to correct 
popes when they did wrong; and at times they had 
even set aside evil popes, and named new ones in their 
place. Gregory now claimed that the Pope was above 
the Emperor; that the lay power had no rights over 
the clergy; and tliat the Pope might even depose an 
Emperor and free his subjects from the obedience 
which they owed him. The Pope, he said, had given 
the Empire to Charlemagne, and what one Pope had 
given another could take away. 

The popes relied, in such struggles, on the power 
which they possessed to "excommunicate" a person. 
Excommunication cut the person off from the Church, 
and no good Christian, thenceforth, might have any- 
thing to do with him. They could not live with him, 
nor do business with him; and if he died unforgiven, 
his soul was believed to be lost. This was the weapon 
which Gregory used against the Emperor Henry, when 
he refused to give up the right of investiture. He 
excommunicated him, and forbade all people from 
obeying him as Emperor, or having anything to do 
with him. Henry's subjects were already dissatisfied 
with his rule, so they took this occasion to rise in 
rebellion. 

Soon Henry saw that unless he made his peace with 
the Pope he would lose his whole kingdom. So with 
his wife and infant son, and only one attendant, he 



i86 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



crossed the Alps in the depth of winter. After ter- 
rible hardships, he arrived at Canossa, where the Pope 
was staying, on January 25, 1076. There, for three 
days, with bare feet and in the dress of a penitent, he 
was forced to stand in the snow before the gate of the 
castle. On the fourth day he was admitted to the 
presence of the Pope; and crying, "Holy Father, 




HENRY IV. 



CANOSSA. 



spare me!" he threw himself at Gregory's feet. Then 
the Pope raised him up and forgave him; and after 
promising that henceforth he would rule in all things 
as the Pope wished, Henry was allowed to return to 
Germany. 

This, however, did not end the quarrel. Henry 
could not forgive the humiliation that had been put 



PA PACV A ND EMPIRE. 1 8 7 

upon him. The German people and clergy, too, would 
not admit the rights which the Pope claimed. Gradu- 
ally Henry recovered the power which he had lost; 
and at last he again went to Italy, — this time with an 
army at his back. All Gregory's enemies now rose up 
against him, and the Pope was obliged to flee to the 
Normans in Southern Italy. There the gray-haired 
old Pope soon died, saying: 

"One thing only fills me with hope. I have always 
loved the law of God, and hated evil. Therefore I die 
in exile." 

Even after the death of Gregory the struggle went 
on. New popes arose who claimed all the power that 
Gregory had claimed; and everywhere the monks of 
Cluny aided the Pope, and opposed the Emperor. 
Henry's son, too, rebelled against him, and at last, 
twenty years after the death of Gregory, Henry IV. 
died broken-hearted and deprived of power. 

When once Henry's son had become Emperor, he 
found that he must continue the struggle, or his power 
would be nothing. At last it was seen that each side 
must give up something, so a compromise was agreed 
to. The Emperor, it was settled, should surrender 
his claim to give the bishops the ring and the staff. 
On the other hand, the Pope agreed that the Emperor 
might control the election of bishops, and bind them 
to perform the duties which they owed as a result of 
the lands which they received from him. The whole 
trouble had arisen from the fact that the bishops were 
not only officers of the Church, but that they held 
feudal "benefices" of the Emperor; and this compro- 
mise was acceptable to both sides. 



l88 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

This, however, did not settle the question whether 
the Pope was above the Emperor ur the Emperor 
above the Pope. On this point there continued to be 
trouble throui^-hout the Middle Ages. Everybody 
agreed that there must be one head to rule over the 
Church, and one head, above all kings and princes, to 
rule over the states of Europe; but they could not 
settle the relations which these two should bear to each 
other. Some said that the power of the Pope in the 
world was like the soul of a man, and the power of the 
Emperor was like his body; but when the popes 
claimed that because the soul was above the body, the 
Papacy was above the Emperor, the emperors would 
not agree. In one passage in the Bible, the apostles 
said to Christ: "Behold, here are two swords;" and 
Christ answered, "It is enough." By the swords, it 
was said, was meant the power of the Pope, and the 
power of the Emperor. Those in favor of the Papacy 
tried to explain that both the swords were in Peter's 
hands, and that as Peter was the founder of the 
Papacy, Christ meant both powers to be under the 
Pope. To this those who favored the Empire would 
not agree. When Frederick Barbarossa was Em[)eror 
there was another long quarrel; and one of the Pope's 
officers tried to show that Frederick held the Empire 
as a "benefice" from the Pope, just as a vassal held his 
land as a benefice from his lord. This claim raised 
such an outburst of anger from the Germans, that the 
Pope was obliged to explain it away. 

The last great struggle between the Papacy and 
Empire came when Frederick II., the grandson of 
Frederick Barbarossa, was Emperor. Frederick II. 



PAPACY AND EMPIRE. 189 

ruled not only over Germany and Northern Italy, but 
over Southern Italy as well. His mother was the 
heiress of the last of the Norman kings in Italy; and 
from her Frederick inherited the kingdom of the Two 
Sicilies. The Pope was afraid that the Emperor 
might try to get Rome also, so a quarrel soon broke 
out. 

Frederick had taken the cross and promised to go on 
a crusade. When he delayed doing this, the Pope 
excommunicated him for not going. Frederick at last 
was ready, and went to the Holy Land. Then the 
Pope excommunicated him a second time for going 
without getting the excommunication removed. In 
the Holy Land Frederick had great trouble with the 
Pope's friends because he was excommunicated. At 
last he made a treaty by which he recovered Jerusalem 
from the Mohammedans, and returned home. Then 
he was excommunicated a third time. It seemed as if 
there was nothing that he could do that would please 
the Pope. 

For a while peace was made between the Pope and 
Emperor; but it did not last long. The Papacy could 
never be content so long as the Emperor ruled over 
Southern Italy. A new quarrel broke out; and this 
time it lasted until Frederick's death in the year 1250. 
After that, the struggle continued until the Papacy 
was completely victorious, and Frederick's sons and 
grandson were slain, and Southern Italy was ruled by 
a king who was not, also, the ruler of Germany. 

Thus the Papacy was left completely victorious over 
the Empire. For nearly a quarter of a century there 
was then no real Emperor in Germany; and when at 




SEIZURE OF i'Ul'E BONIFACE Vlll. 



PAPACY AND EM J' IRE. 191 

last one was chosen he was careful to leave Italy alone. 
"Italy," said he, "is the den of the lion. I see many 
tracks leading into it, but there are none coming out. " 
From this time on the Emperor of the Holy Roman 
Empire comes more and more to be merely the ruler 
over Germany. 

At about the same time the Popes began to make 
greater claims than ever. One Pope, Boniface VIII., 
clothed himself in the imperial cloak, and with the 
scepter in his hand and a crown upon his head, cried: 
"I am Pope; I am Emperor!" This could not last 
long. The Empire was gone, but there were now new 
national governments arising in France, England, and 
elsewhere, which were conscious of their strength. 
Boniface soon got into a quarrel with Philip IV. of 
France about some money matters; and the way he 
was treated by the servants of the King showed that 
the old power of the popes was gone, equally with the 
power of the emperors. Boniface was seized at the 
little town in Italy where he was staying, was struck 
in the face with the glove of one of his own nobles, 
and was kept prisoner for several days. Although he 
was soon released, the old Pope died in a few weeks, — 
of shame and anger, it was said. 

Nor was this the end of the matter. Within a few 
months the seat of the Papacy was changed from 
Rome to Avignon, on the river Rhone. There, for 
nearly seventy years, the popes remained under the 
influence of the kings of France. When, at last, a 
Pope sought to remove the Papacy back to Rome, this 
led to new trouble. A great division or "schism" now 
arose, so that there were two popes instead of one; 



192 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

and all the nations of Europe were divided as to 
whether, they should obey the Pope at Rome, or the 
one at Avignon. "All our West land," wrote an 
Englishman named Wiclif, "is with that one Pope or 
that other; and he that is with that one, hateth the 
other, with all his. vSome men say that here is the 
Pope at Avignon, for he was well chosen; and some 
men say that he is yonder at Rome, for he was first 
chosen." A council of the Church tried to end the 
schism ; but it only made matters worse by adding a 
third Pope to the two that already existed. At last, 
another and greater council was held; and there, after 
the schism had lasted for nearly forty years, all three 
popes were set aside, and a new one chosen whom all 
the nations accepted. 

So, at last, the Papacy was re- united and restored to 
Rome. But it never recovered entirely from its stay 
at Avignon, and from the Great Schism. The power 
of the popes was never again as great as it had been 
before the quarrel between Boniface VIII. and the 
King of France. The Papacy had triumphed over the 
Empire, but it could not triumph over the national 
kingdoms. "We look on Pope and Emperor alike," 
said a writer in the fifteenth century, who soon became 
Pope himself, "as names in a story, or heads in a pic- 
ture. " Thenceforth there was no ruler whom all 
Christendom would obey. The end of the Middle 
Ages, indeed, was fast approaching. The modern 
times, when each nation obeys its own kings, and fol- 
lows only its own interests, were close at hand. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. I93 



XVIII 

The Hundred Years' War. 

ONE of the signs that the Middle Ages were com- 
ing to an end was the long war between France 
and England. It lasted altogether from 1337 to 1453, 
and is called the Hundred Years' War. 

When William the Conqueror became King of Eng- 
land, he did not cease to be Duke of Normandy. 
Indeed, as time went on, the power of the English 
kings in France increased, until William's successors 
ruled all the western part of that land, from north of 
the river Seine to the Pyrenees Mountains, and from 
the Bay of Biscay almost to the river Rhone. They 
held all this territory as fiefs of the kings of France ; 
but the fact that they were also independent kings of 
England made them stronger than their overlords. 
This led to frequent wars, until, at last, the English 
kings had lost all their land in France except Aqui- 
taine, in the southwest. 

These, however, were merely feudal wars between 
the rulers of the two countries. They did not much 
concern the people of either France or England; for 
in neither country had the people come to feel that 
they were a nation and that one of their first duties 
was to love their own country and support their 
own government. In Aquitaine, indeed, the people 



194 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

scarcely felt that they were French at all, and rather 
preferred the kings of England to the French kings 
who dwelt at Paris. During the Hundred Years' War, 
all this was to change. In fighting with one an- 
other, in this long struggle, the people of France 
and of England came gradually to feel that they were 
French and English. The people of Aquitaine began 
to feel that they were of nearer kin to those who dwelt 
about Paris than they were to the English, and began 
to feel love for France and hatred for England. It 
was the same, too, with the English. In fighting the 
French, the descendants of the old Saxons, and of the 
conquering Normans, came to feel that they were all 
alike Englishmen. So, although the long war brought 
terrible suffering and misery, it brought also some 
good to both countries. In each patriotism was born, 
and in each the people became a nation. 

There were many things which led up to the war, 
but the chief was the fact that the French King, who 
died in 1328, left no son to succeed him. The prin- 
cipal claimants for the throne were his cousin, Philip, 
who was Duke of Valois, and his nephew, Edward III. 
of England. The French nobles decided in favor of 
Duke Philip, and he became King as Philip VI. 
Edward did not like this decision, but he accepted it 
for a time. After nine years, however, war broke out 
because of other reasons; and then Edward claimed 
the throne as his of right. 

During the first eight years, neither country gained 
any great advantage, though the English won an 
important battle at sea. In the ninth year the Eng- 
lish gained their first great victory on land. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 



195 



This battle took place at Crecy, in the northernmost 
part of France, about one hundred miles from Paris. 
The French army was twice as large as the English, 
and was made up mainly of mounted knights, armed 
with lance and sword, and clad in the heavy armor of 
the Middle Ages. The English army was made up 
chiefly of archers on foot. Everywhere in England 
boys were trained from the time they were six or seven 
years old at shooting with the bow and arrow. As 
they grew older, stronger and stronger bows were 




ARCHERS SHOOTING AT MARK. 



given them, until at last they could use the great long- 
bows of their fathers. The greatest care was taken in 
this teaching; and on holidays grown men as well as 
boys might be seen practicing shooting at marks on 
the village commons. In this way the English became 
the best archers in Europe, and so powerful were their 
bows that the arrows would often pierce armor or slay 
a knight's horse at a hundred yards. 

So the advantage was not so great on the side of the 
French as it seemed. Besides, King Edward placed 
his men very skillfully, while the French managed the 



196 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



battle very badly. Edward placed his archers at the 
top of a sloping hillside, with the knights behind. In 
command of the first line he placed his fifteen-year- 
old son, the Black Prince, while the King himself took 
a position on a little windmill-hill in the rear. The 
French had a large number of crossbowmen with 
them. Although the crossbowmen could not shoot so 
rapidly as the English archers, because the crossbow 
had to be rested on the ground, and 
wound up after each shot, they could 
shoot to a greater distance and with 
more force. Unluckily, a shower 
wet the strings of the crossbows, 
while the English were able to pro- 
tect their bows and keep the strings 
dry. So when the French King 
ordered the crossbowmen to advance, 
they went unwillingly; and when 
the English archers, each stepping 
forward one pace, let fly their ar- 
rows, the crossbowmen turned and 
fled. 

At this King Philip was very 
angry, for he thought they fled 
through cowardice; so he cried: "Slay me those 
rascals!" At this command, the French knights 
rode among the crossbowmen and killed many of their 
own men. All this while the English arrows were 
falling in showers about them, and many horses, and 
knights, as well as archers, were slain. 

Then the French horsemen charged the English 
lines. Some of the knights about the young Prince 




A CROSSBOWMAN. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 197 

now began to fear for him, and sent to the King, 
urging him to send assistance, 

"Is my son dead," asked the King, "or so wounded 
that he cannot help himself?" 

"No, sire, please God," answered the messenger, 
"but he is in a hard passage of arms, and much needs 
your help." 

"Then," said King Edward, "return to them that 
sent you, and tell them not to send to me again so 
long as my son lives. I command them to let the boy 
win his spurs. If God be pleased, I will that the honor 
of this day shall be his." 

On the French side was the blind old King of 
Bohemia. When the fighting began he said to those 
about him: 

"You are my vassals and friends. I pray you to 
lead me so far into the battle that I may strike at least 
one good stroke with my sword!" 

Two of his attendants then placed themselves on 
either side of him ; and, tying the bridles of their horses 
together, they rode into the fight. There the old 
blind King fought valiantly; and when the battle was 
over, the bodies of all three were found, with their 
horses still tied together. 

The victory of the English was complete. Thou- 
sands of the French were slain, and King Philip him- 
self was obliged to flee to escape capture. But 
though the Black Prince won his spurs right nobly, the 
chief credit for the victory was due to the English 
archers. 

It was many years after this before the next great 
battle was fought. This was due, in part, to a terrible 



19^ THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

sickness which came upon all Western Europe soon 
after the battle of Crecy. It was called the Black 
Death, and arose in Asia, where cholera and the 
plague often arise. Whole villages were attacked at 
the same time; and for two years the disease raged 
everywhere. When, at last, it died out, half of the 
population of England was gone; and France had 
suffered almost as terribly. 

Ten years after the battle of Crecy (in 1356) the war 
broke out anew. The Black Prince, at the head of an 
army, set out from Aquitaine and marched northward 
into the heart of France. Soon, however, he found 
his retreat cut off near the city of Poitiers by the 
French King John (who had succeeded his father 
Philip), with an army six or seven times the size of the 
English force. The situation of the English was so 
bad that the Prince offered to give up all the prisoners, 
castles, and towns which they had taken during this 
expedition, and to promise not to fight against France 
again for seven years, if the French King would grant 
them a free retreat. But King John felt so sure of 
victory that he refused these terms. Then the battle 
began. 

Just as at Crecy, the English were placed on a little 
hill; and again they depended chiefly on their archers. 
From behind a thick hedge they shot their arrows in 
clouds as the French advanced. Soon all was uproar 
and confusion. Many of the French lay wounded or 
slain; and many of their horses, feeling the sting of 
the arrow-heads, reared wildly, flung their riders, 
and dashed to the rear. When once dismounted, a 
knight could not mount to the saddle again without 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 



199 



assistance, so heavy was the armor which was then 
worn. 

In a short time this division of the French was over- 
thrown. Then a second, and finally a third division 
met the same fate. To the war-cries, "Mountjoy! 
Saint Denis!" the English replied with shouts of "St. 
George! Guyenne!" The ringing of spear-heads upon 
shields, the noise of breaking lances, the clash of hos- 
tile swords and battle-axes, were soon added to the 
rattle of English arrows upon French breastplates and 
helmets. At last the French were all overthrown, or 
turned in flight, ex- 



cept m one 
of the field. 
King John, 
few of his 



quarter 

There 

with a 

bravest 




KNIGHTS IN BATTLE. 



knights, fought val- 
iantly on foot. As 
he swung his heavy 
battle-ax, now at this 

foe and now at that, his son Philip, — a brave boy of 
thirteen years, — cried unceasingly: 

"Father, guard right! Father, guard left!" 
At last even the King was obliged to surrender ; and 
he and his son Philip were taken prisoners to the tent 
of the English Prince. There they were courteously 
entertained, the Prince waiting upon them at table 
with his own hands. But for several 3^ears they 
remained captives, awaiting the ransom which the 
English demanded. 

The battle of Poitiers was a sad blow indeed to 
France. Many hundreds of her noblest knights were 



rilE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



there slain ; and all sorts of disorders arose during the 
captivity of her King-. The peasants rose in rebellion 
against their masters, and civil war broke out. And 
when, after four years of comfortable captivity, King 
John was set free, he was obliged to pay a heavy ran- 
som and sign a peace in which he surrendered to the 
English, in full right, all of Aquitaine, Soon after 
this "Good King John," as he was called, died, leav- 
ing his kingdom in great disorder. He was a good 
knight and a brave man ; but he was a poor general 

and a weak king. 
His eldest 
son, Charles, 
who was styled 
Charles V. , or 
Charles the 
Wise, now be- 
came King. He 
was very differ- 
ent from his 
father; and though he was not nearly so knightly a 
warrior, he proved a much better king. He improved 
the government and the army; and when the war with 
the English began again, he at once began to be suc- 
cessful. The Black Prince was now broken in health, 
and died in the year 1376; the old English King, 
Edward HI., died the next year; and then Richard 
II., the twelve-year-old son of the Black Prince, became 
King of England. Troubles, too, broke out in Eng- 
land, so the English were not able to carry on the 
war as vigorously as they had done before. At the 
same time the French King found a general named 




KNIGHT ATTACKING FOOT-SOLDIERS. 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 201 

Du Guesclin, who proved to be the best general that 
the Middle Ages ever saw. 

One trouble with the French had been that they 
scorned the '* base-born" foot-soldiers, and thought 
that war should be the business of the heavy-armed 
knights alone; and another was that the knights 
thought it disgraceful to retreat, even when they knew 
they could not win. With Du Guesclin, all this was 
different". He was willing to use peasants and towns- 
men if their way of fighting was better than that of 
the nobles ; and he did not think it beneath him to 
retreat if he saw he could not win. So, by caution and 
good sense, and the support of wise King Charles, he 
won victory after victory ; and though no great battles 
were fought, almost all of the English possessions in 
France came into the hands of the French once more. 

Then the French successes stopped for a time. Du 
Guesclin died, and after him King Charles V. ; and 
now it was the French who had a boy king. When 
this King, Charles VI., grew to be a man, he became 
insane; and his imcles quarreled with one another and 
with the King's brother for the government. Soon 
the quarrel led to murder, and the murder to civil 
war; and again France was thrown into all the misery 
and disorder from which it had been rescued by 
Charles the Wise. 

In England, about this time. King Henry V. came 
to the throne. He was a young and warlike prince ; 
and he wished, through a renewal of the war, to win 
glory for himself. Besides, he remembered the old 
claim of Edward III. to the French crown; and he 
thought that now, when the French nobles were fight- 



202 THE STORY OF THK MIDDJJ-: AGES. 

ing among themselv^es, was a fine opportunity to make 
that claim good. 

So, in the year 1415, King Henry landed with an army 
in France, and began again the old, old struggle. And 
again, after a few months, the English found their 
retreat cut off near a little village called Agincourt, by 
a much larger army of the French. But King Henry 
remembered the victories of Crecy and Poitiers, and 
did not despair. When one of his knights wished that 
the thousands of warriors then lying idle in England 
were only there, King Henry exclaimed: 

**I would not have a single man more. If God gives 
us the victory, it will be plain that we owe it to His 
grace. If not, the fewer we are, the less loss to Eng- 
land." 

At Agincourt there was no sheltering hedge to pro- 
tect the English archers. To make up for this, King 
Henry ordered each man to provide himself with tall 
stakes, sharpened at each end; these they planted 
slantwise in the ground as a protection against French 
horsemen. Most of the English force was again made 
up of archers with the long-bow, while most of the 
French were knights in full armor. The French, 
indeed, seemed to have forgotten all that Du Guesclin 
and Charles V. had taught them. To make matters 
worse, their knights dismounted and sought to march 
upon the English position on foot. As the field 
through which they had to pass was newly plowed 
and wet with rain, the heavy-armed knights sank knee- 
deep in mud at every step. For the third time the 
English victory was complete. Eleven thousand 
Frenchmen were left dead upon the field, and among 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 203 

the number were more than a hundred great lords and 
princes. In after years Englishmen sang of the won- 
derful victory in these words: 

"Agincourt, Agincourt! 
Know ye not Agincourt? 
When English slew and hurt 

All their French foemen? 
With our pikes and bills brown 
How the French were beat down, 

Shot by our bowmen. 

"Agincourt, Agincourt ! 
Know ye not Agincourt? 
English of every sort, 

High men and low men, 
Fought that day wondrous well, as 
All our old stories tell us, 

Thanks to our bowmen. 

' 'Agincourt, Agincourt ! 
Know ye not Agincourt? 
When our fifth Harry taught 

Frenchmen to know men. 
And when the day was done 
Thousands then fell to one 

Good English bowman." 

Even so great a defeat as this could not make the 
French princes cease their quarrels. Again the leader 
of one party was murdered by the followers of 
another; and the followers of the dead prince became 
so bitterly hostile that they were willing to join the 
English against the other party. In this way the Bur- 
gundians, as the one party was called, entered into a 
treaty with Henry of England against the Armagnacs, 
as the other party was called; and it was agreed that 
Henry should marry Katharine, the daughter of the 



204 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



insane King, and Henry sliould become King of 
France when the old King died. No one seemed to 
cafe for the rights of the Dauphin (the French King's 
son) except the Armagnacs; they, of course, were 
opposed to all that the Burgundians did. 

Both Henry Y. of England and poor old Charles VI. 

of France died within 
two years after this 
treaty was signed. 
Henry had married 
Katharine as agreed; 
and though their son 
(Henry VI.) was a 
mere baby, only nine 
months old, he now 
l)ecame King of both 
England and France. 
In neither country, 
however, was his 
reign to be a happy 
cr a peaceful one. In 
England the little 
King's relatives fell 
to quarreling about 
the government, just 
as had happened in 
France; and when he 
grew up, like his French grandfather he became insane. 
At the same time the English found their hold upon 
France relaxing and the land slipping from their grasp. 
Only the Armagnacs at first had recognized the 
Dauphin as King; and for seven years after the death 




lIAIJiKRDS, IWl.l.S, ANT) I'lKES 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 



205 



of his father he had 'great difficulty in keeping any 
part of France from the hands of the English. In the 
year 1429, however, a great change took place. A 
young peasant girl, named Joan of Arc, appeared at 
the King's court in that year, and under her inspira- 




JOAN OF ARC AND HER "VOICES. 



tion and guidance the French cause began to gain, and 
the English and Burgundian to lose ground. 

Joan's home was in the far northeastern part of 
France, and there she had been brought up in the cot- 
tage of her father with her brothers and sisters. 
There she helped to herd the sheep, assisted her 



2o6 THE STORY OF THE MIDDEE AGES. 

mother in hoiiseliold tasks, and learned to spin and to 
sew. She never learned to read and write, for that 
was not thoug-ht necessary for peasant oirls. Joan was 
a sweet, good girl, and was very religious. Even in 
her far-off village the people suffered from the evils 
which the wars brought upon the land, and Joan's 
heart was moved by the distress which she saw about 
her. When she was thirteen she began to hear voices 
of saints and angels, — of Saint Catherine and Saint 
Margaret, and of the angel Gabriel. When she was 
eighteen her "voices" told her that she must go into 
France, aid the Dauphin, and cause him to be crowned 
king at Rlieims, where the kings of France had been 
crowned before him. 

The cause of the Dauphin at this time was at its 
lowest ebb. The English were besieging the city of 
Orleans, on the Loire River; and if that was taken 
all France would be lost. vSo the first work of Joan 
must be to raise the siege of Orleans, With much 
difficulty she succeeded in reaching the Dauphin. 
When she was brought into the room where he was, 
she picked him out from among all, though she had 
never seen him, and many of the courtiers were more 
richly dressed than he. After many weeks she suc- 
ceeded in persuading his councillors that her voices 
were from God, and not the evil one. Then, at last, 
she was given a suit of armor, and mounted on a white 
horse, with a sword at her side and a standard in her 
hand, she rode at the head of the Dauphin's troops to 
Orleans. 

When once Joan had reached that place, she so 
encouraged the citizens that within eight days the 



THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 207 

English were forced to raise the siege and retire. It 
seemed to the French a miracle of God, while the 
English dreaded and feared her as a witch or sorcer- 
ess. From this time Joan is called "the Maid of 
Orleans." Nor did her success stop witli the relief of 
that city. Within a few months, the Dauphin was 
taken to Rheims, and crowned as true King of France. 
After this many flocked to his standard who before had 
taken no part in the war. From that time on the 
French began to get the advantage of the English; 
and it was mainly the enthusiasm and faith aroused 
by the Maid that caused the change. 

Joan's work was now almost done. Twice she was 
wounded while fighting at the head of the King's 
troops. At last she was taken prisoner by a party of 
Burgundians, and turned over to the English. By 
them she was put on trial for heresy and sorcery. 
She showed much courage and skill before her judges, 
but she was condemned and sentenced to be burned 
to death at the stake. The next day the sentence 
was carried out. To the last she showed herself 
brave, kind, and womanly. As the flames mounted 
about her an Englishman cried out: "We are lost; 
we have burned a saint." Such indeed she was, 
if a saint was ever made by purity, faith, and noble 
suffering. 

The English burned the Maid and threw her ashes 
in the river Seine; but they could not undo her work. 
The French continued to gain victory after victory. 
Soon the old breach between the Armagnacs and Bur- 
g-undians was healed, and the Burgundians abandoned 
the English. Then Paris was gained by the French 



2o8 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

King. Some years later Normandy was conquered, 
and finally Aquitaine. 

In the year 1453, the long, long war came to an 
end. Of all the wide territories which the English 
had once possessed in France, they now held only one 
little town in the north; and the shadows of a civil 
war — the War of the Roses — were rising in England 
to prevent them from ever regaining what they had lost. 
Down to the time of George III. the English kings 
continued to style themselves kings of France; but 
this was a mere form. The French now felt them- 
selves to be a nation, and only a national king could 
rule over them. That this was so was mainly due to 
the Maid of Orleans. She was the real savior of 
France, and remains its greatest national hero. 



END OF THE AflDDLE AGES. 209 



XIX 

End of the Middle Ages. 

WRITERS of histories are not agreed as to just 
when the Middle Ages came to an end; but 
all unite in saying that the change had come by about 
the year 1500. If we ask what this change was, the 
question is easy to answer, though perhaps hard to 
understand. When men had come to think different 
thoughts, and live under different institutions, in the 
Church and in the State, from those we have been 
describing, then the end of the Middle Ages had come. 
Feudalism ceased to be a sufficient tie to bind men 
together in society, and national states arose. Chivalry 
ceased to be the noble institution its founders had 
hoped to make of it and became a picturesque mimicry 
of high sentiment, without real hold on the life of the 
time. Men came to rely less upon their guilds and 
communes, their orders and classes, and act more for 
themselves as individuals. Ignorance, too, became 
less dense; and as men learned more of the world, and 
of themselves, superstition became less universal and 
degrading. 

It was such changes as these that mark the close of 
the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new time. 
Many of the events of which we have been reading 
helped to bring on these changes, and put an end to 



2IO TtlE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

this period of history. The Crusades did a great 
deal, by bringing the different peoples of Europe into 
contact with one another, and broadening their minds; 
while at the same time they helped to develop the 
commerce which kept the nations in touch. The 
long struggle between the Papacy and the Empire, 
as we have seen, broke down the power of each, 
and so prepared the way for the rise of new institu- 
tions. And the Hundred Years' War between France 
and England, by making these nations feel that 
they were French and English, helped to complete 
the break-up of the old system, and bring in a time 
when all Europe was divided into a number of national 
states, each with its own interests and government, 
and owing obedience to no emperor or other superior. 
The capture of Constantinople by the Turks and the 
fall of the Eastern Empire was another event which 
helped bring the Middle Ages to a close. After the 
Crusades had cume to an end, a new branch of Turks, 
called the Ottomans, had risen to power. In the 
course of a century and a half, they made themselves 
masters of all Asia Minor and Palestine, and of a good 
part of Southeastern Europe as well. At Adrianople, 
where the Goths had won their first great victory, they 
fixed their capital; and their "horse-tail" standards 
were thence borne far up the valley of the Danube, into 
Hungary and Austria. But for many years the walls 
of Constantinople proved too much for them; and 
there the Eastern Empire prolonged its feeble exist- 
ence. When the Hundred Years' War was just coming 
to an end, a new sultan came to the throne whose 
entire energies were devoted to the capture of that 



END OF THE MIDDLE A GES. 2 1 1 

city and the making it his capital. In 1453 the attack 
began. Great cannons, — the largest the world had 
ever seen, — now thundered away, along with catapults, 
battering-rams, and other engines which the Middle 
Ages used. After fifty-three days, the city was 
taken. Then the Christian churches became Moham- 
medan mosques; and the standard of the Sultans 
floated where for a thousand years had hung the ban- 
ner of the Eastern Emperors. In this way was estab- 
lished the Ottoman Empire, the continued existence 
of which causes some of the hardest problems which 
the Christian nations have to face to-day. 

All these events which we have been recounting 
helped to bring the Middle Ages to a close; but other 
things helped even more than these. One was what 
we call the Revival of Learning; another was certain 
great inventions which the later Middle Ages pro- 
duced; and a third was the discovery of new lands and 
new peoples across the seas. 

Although the monks had done much for learning 
during the Middle Ages, nevertheless a great deal of the 
knowledge and literature of the olden time had dis- 
appeared. Many of the most famous works of the old 
Greek and Latin authors had been lost sight of alto- 
gether. Others, also, which the monks had, they did 
not understand ; and still others they almost feared 
to read because they were full of the stories of the old 
gods, whom the Middle Ages regarded as evil spirits. 
The Latin, too, which the monks spoke and wrote 
was very incorrect and corrupt; and practically no one 
outside of the Eastern Empire understood Greek at all. 

About the beginning of the fourteenth century, 



212 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

however, men began to take a new interest in the old 
literature. They began to write more correct Latin. 
They searched for forgotten manuscripts which might 
contain some of the lost works. They corrected and 
edited the manuscripts they had, and began to make 
dictionaries and grammars to aid them in understand- 
ing them. Soon some began even to learn Greek, and 
collect Greek manuscripts as well as Latin ones. 
Above all, scholars tried to put themselves back in the 
place of the old Greeks and Romans, and look at the 
world through their eyes, and not through the eyes of 
the medieval monks. The result was that many 
things began to seem different to them. They no 
longer feared this world as the monks had done. 
They took delight in its beauty, and no longer thought 
that everything which was pleasant was therefore sin- 
ful. And because they believed that man's life as a 
human being was good in itself, the new scholars were 
called "humanists," and their studies and ways of 
thinking "humanism." 

This change in the way of thinking came only 
gradually, and it was a hundred years before human- 
ism began to spread from Italy, where it first arose, 
to the countries north of the Alps. But then the Ger- 
mans contributed something which helped to spread 
humanism more rapidly. This was the invention of 
printing. 

The making of books, by forming each letter in each 
copy, separately with the pen, was so slow that men 
had long hunted for some means of lessening the 
labor. They found that by engraving the page upon 
a block of wood, and printing from this, they could 



END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



213 



make a hundred copies almost as easily as one ; so in 
the fifteenth century "block books," as they were 
called, began to be made. But the trouble with these 
was that every page had to be engraved separately, 
and this proved such a task that only books of a very 
few pages were made in this way. 

Then it occurred to John Gutenberg, of Strasburg, 
that if he made the letters separate, he could use the 
same ones over and over again to form new pages; 
and if instead of cutting the letters themselves, he 
made moulds to pro- 
duce them, then he 
could cast his type 
in metal (which 
would be better than 
wood anyway), and 
from the one mould 
he could make as 
many of each letter 
as was necessary. 

In this way print- 
ing from movable 

metal types was invented by Gutenberg, about the year 
1450. It seems like a very small thing when we tell 
about it, but it was one of the most important inven- 
tions that the world has ever seen. The first book that 
was printed was the Bible. Soon presses and printing 
offices were established all over Western Europe, 
printing Bibles and other books, and selling them so 
cheaply that almost every one could now afford to 
buy. The invention of printing thus served to spread 
humanism and the knowledge of the Bible throughout 




EARLY PRINTERS. 



214 



THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



Europe, and these two together brought on the 
Reformation and helped put an end entirely to the 
Middle Ages. 

The introduction of gunpowder was also, in the end, 
of very great importance. Nobody knows just when or 
by whom gunpowder was invented; but it was used to 
make rockets and fireworks in India and China long be- 
fore it was known in Europe. In the fourteenth century 
the Moors of Spain introduced the use of cannon into 
Europe; and by the date of the battle of Crecy (1346) 

cannon were to be 
found in most of 
the w^estern coun- 
tries. These, how- 
ever, were usually 
small, and were 
often composed 
merely of iron 
staves roughly 
hooped together, or 
even of wood or of 
leather; and the 
powder used was weak and without sufficient force to 
throw the ball any great distance. It was not gun- 
powder, as is sometimes said, that first overthrew the 
armored knight of the Middle Ages ; it was the archers, 
and the foot-soldiers armed with long pikes for thrust- 
ing, and with halberds hooked at the end by means of 
which the knight might be pulled from his horse. As 
the cannon were improved, however, they became of 
great service in breaking down the walls of feudal 
castles, and of hostile cities; and so, in the end, they 




EARLY CANNON. 



END OF THE .MIDDLE AGES. 



215 



helped greatly to change the mode of making war. But 
it was not until the Middle Ages had quite come to an 
end that gunpowder had become so useful in small 
hand guns that the old long-bows and crossbows com- 
pletely disappeared. 

Two other inventions that came into use in the 
Middle Ages were also of great importance in bring- 
ing in the new time. These were the compass, or 
magnetic needle, and the "cross-staff" used by sailors 
for finding latitude. 
Like gunpowder, ^ 

the compass came 
from Asia, where it 
was used by the Chi- 
nese long before the 
birth of Christ. It 
was introduced into 
Europe as a guide to 
sailors about the be- 
ginning of the four- 
teenth century. It 
enabled them to 
steer steadily in 

whatever direction they wished, even when far from 
land; but it could not tell them where they were 
at any given time. The cross-staff did this in part, 
for it could tell them their latitude by measuring 
the height of the north star above the horizon. The 
"astrolabe" was another instrument which was used 
for the same purpose. These were very ancient 
instruments, but they did not begin to be used by sail- 
ors until some time in the fifteenth century. Even 




THE CROSS-STAFF. 



2i6 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

then the sailor had to trust to guess-work for his 
longitude, for the watches and chronometers by which 
ship captains now measure longitude were not yet 
invented; and sailing maps were only beginning to be 
made. 

Yet, in spite of these disadvantages, and in spite of 
the smallness of the vessels, and the terrors of 
unknown seas, great progress was made in the discov- 
ery of new lands before the close of our period. The 
commerce of the Italian cities made their citizens 
skillful sailors, voyaging up and down the Mediter- 
ranean and even beyond the straits of Gibraltar. The 
Normans and certain of the Spanish peoples, early 
sailed boldly into the northern and western seas. But 
it was the little state of Portugal that led the way in 
the discovery of new worlds. A prince of that state 
gave so much attention to discovery in the first half 
of the fifteenth century, that he was called Prince 
Henr}^ "the Navigator." Under his wise direction 
Portuguese seamen began working their way south 
along the coast of Africa. In this way the Madeira 
and Canary Islands, the Azores, and Cape Verde were 
discovered one after another before 1450; and after 
Prince Henry's death, a Portuguese captain succeeded 
in i486 in reaching the southernmost point of Africa, 
to which the Portuguese King gave the name *'Cape 
of Good Hope." Twelve years later, in 1498, Vasco 
da Gama realized this hope by reaching the East 
Indies, and so opened up communication by sea with 
India. Six years before, as we all know, Columbus 
while trying to reach the same region by sailing west- 
ward, discovered the new world of America, — though 



END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 217 

he died thinking that he had reached Asia and the 
East Indies. 

So we come to a time when Europe had emerged 
from the darkness of the Middle Ages, and was pre- 
paring, first, to make a reformation in religion, and 
then to go forth and found new Europes across the 
seas. But the details of these events belong to the 
story of Modern Times, and not to the Middle Ages. 
To complete our story we need only tell what was the 
condition of each of the principal states of Europe at 
this time, and point out the part it was to play in the 
new period. 

Germany was the country which was to take the 
lead in bringing about the Reformation in religion. 
Its people were more serious-minded than the peoples 
south of the Alps, and felt more keenly the evils in 
the Church; above all, it was there that the great 
reformer, Martin Luther, was born. But Germany 
was split up into a great many little states, each with 
its own prince or king, and each practically independ- 
ent of the Emperor. So there was no national 
strength in Germany; and when the movement began 
to establish colonies and take possession of the New 
World, Germany took no part. 

Italy also was too much split up among rival cities 
and warring principalities to take any part in coloniza- 
tion; and the Eastern nations, such as Russia and 
Poland, were not used to the sea. Sweden for a while 
became very powerful in the seventeenth century, 
owing to the ability of its great King, Gustavus 
Adolphus, and it established colonies on the river 
Delaware. The Dutch also for a time became a great 



2i8 THE STORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

sctifaring' people, and establislied colonics on tlie 
banks of the Hudson. Both these countries, however, 
soon lost their stren^^th, and their colonies, for the 
most part, passed into the hands of larger and stronger 
nations. 

It was the nations of Western Europe, — England, 
France, and Spain, — that were to take the lead in 
building up new Europes across the water. England 
at the close of the Middle Ages was just coming out 
of the long War of the Roses which was mentioned in 
the last chapter. That war had brought Henry VII., 
the grandfather of the great Queen Elizabeth, to the 
throne; and under him England was strong, united 
and prosperous. Thus when the Venetian, John 
Cabot, asked King Henry for ships to sail westward to 
the lands newly found by Columbus, his request was 
granted. In that way the beginning was made of a 
claim which, after many years, gave the English the 
possession of all the eastern part of North America. 

France also was strong, united, and prosperous at 
the close of the Middle Ages. Through several cen- 
turies the kings had been busy breaking down the 
influence of the great nobles, and gathering the power 
into their own hands. So France was ready to take 
part in the exploration and settlement of the New 
World ; and the result was tliat the French got Canada 
and Louisiana, and for a while it seemed as though the 
whole of the great Mississippi basin was about to pass 
into their hands also. 

But it was Spain that was to take the chief part in 
the work of making known the New World to the Old, 
and in estal)lishing there the first colonies. From the 



END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 219 

days when the Moors came into Spain in 711, the Span- 
ish Christians had been occupied for nearly eight hun- 
dred years in defending themselves in the mountains 
against the Mohammedans and in winning back, bit 
by bit, the land which the Goths had lost. Little by 
little, new states had there arisen — Castile, Leon, 
Aragon, and Portugal, Next these states began to 
unite — Leon with Castile, and then (by the marriage 
of Isabella to Ferdinand) Castile with Aragon. In 
the year 1492, the last of the Moors were overcome, 
and the whole peninsula, except Portugal alone, was 
united under one king and queen. So Spain, too, was 
made strong, united, and prosperous; and was pre- 
pared, with the confidence of victory upon it, to send 
forth Columbus, Vespucius, De Soto, Cortez, and 
Magellan, to lay the foundations of the first great 
colonial empire. 

All this was made possible by the Middle Ages, It 
was the blending of the old Germans with the peoples 
of the Roman Empire, that made the Spaniards, the 
French, and, to a certain extent, the English people. 
It was the events of the Middle Ages that shaped their 
development, and formed the strong national mon- 
archies which alone could colonize the New World. 
And it was the institutions and ideas which had been 
shaped and formed and re-shaped and re-formed in 
the Middle Ages, that the colonists brought with them 
from across the sea. So, in a way, the story of the 
Middle Ages is a part of our own history. The New 
World influenced the Old World a very great deal ; 
but it was itself influenced yet more largely by the 
older one. 



INDEX. 



Aa Chen, 95- 

A dri a DO pie, battle of, 26. 

A-gin-court , battle of, 202, 3. 

Al -a-ric, 2S, 29-35. 

Alfred, King of England, iii. 

America, discovered by Northmen, 113; by Columbus, 216,219. 

An gles, 39. 57. 

Arabs, 72-8; overthrown by Turks, 115. 

Archers, English, 195. 

A ri an-ism, 52, :, 66. 

Ar-ma-gnacs , and Burgundians, 201, 203, 204, 207. 

Ar yan peoples, 13, 14- 

As tro-labe, the, 215. 

Ath-a-na sius, 52, 3. 

At ti-la, 40-42. 

A Vi-gnon , Papacy at, 191. 

Ben e-dict, St., 170; rule of, 170-1S0. 

Ber nard, St., 179. 

Black Death, 198. 

Black Prince, 196-200. 

Boniface VIII., Pope. 191. 

Brun-hil da, 6S. 

Bulgarians, 117. 

Bur-gun'di ans, settlement of, 39, 64. 

Cannon, use of, 212-14. 

Ca-nute , King of England, iii. 

Castles, rise of, 98: life of, 137-49. 

Chalons , battle of, 41. 

Char-le-magne , Si-95, 105, 6, 181. 

Charles Mar-tel , 78, 9. 

Charles (the Bald), 97. 

Charles V. of France, 201 4. 

Chivalry, 143-49- 

Church, the, 10; growth of, 50-58; corruption and reform in, 182, S3; the Great 

Schism in, 191, 92. 
Clo til'da, 65. 
Clo'vis, 62-7. 
Clu'ny, 182, 83, 187. 
Compass, the, 215. 

221 



222 INDEX. 

Conrad III. of Cennany, 129. 

Con-Stan ti no pie, captured on Fourth Cmsaile, \i\\ by Turks, 211. 

Cre cy, battle of, 195-97. 

Cross staff, the, 215. 

Crusades, the, 114-36. 

Dark Ages, n. 

De si de ri us, King of the Lombards, 85-8. 

Discovery of new lands, 216. 

DuGues-clin , joi. 

East Goths, 25, 1} 7. 

Edward the Confessor, King of England, 112. 

Ed'ward III. of Knglaud. 194-200. 

Empire, Eastern, separation from West, 2S; threatened by Turks, 115; in 

hands of the Latins, 134; fall of, 211. 
Empire, Western, separation from Eastern. 2S: overthrown by Odoacer. 44; 

revived by Charlemagne, 88; by Otto I., iSi; conflict with Papacy, 181-92; 

practically confined to Germany, 191. 
Engines, military, 125, 133, 34. 
England, settlement of Angles and Saxons, 39-40; conversion, 58; Danes in, 

no; Norman conquest, in; Hundred Years' War with France, 193-208; 

War of the Roses, 20S; at close of Middle Ages, 218. 
Excommunication, 185. 
Fairs, i6.s, 69. 
Fer'di-nand, King of Aragon, 219. 

Feud, the. 18, 68, 9. 

Feudalism, growth of, 96-103. 

France, rise of, 97; fall of Carolingian dynasty, 109; conflict with Papacy, 191; 

Hundred Years' War with England. 193-208; at close of Middle Ages, 218. 
Franks, 48, 59-71, 78-95; of the Crusades, 120. 21, 128. 
Fred e gonda, 6S. 

Frederick (I.), Bar-ba-ros sa, Emperor, 131. 32; and the Papacy, 188, 
Fred er-ick II., Emperor, iS8, S9. 
Germans, ancient, 10, n, 12-20. 

Ger many, separation of 97; at close of the Middle Ages, 217. 
Gi-bral tar, 76, 
Godfrey of Bouillon , 127 
Gods, th; German, 19, 20. 
Goths, 21-3.-. 41. 2, 44-7, 61,64. 76-8. 
Gregory I., the Great, Pope, 56-8. 
Gregory VII., Pope, 18287. 
Guilds, 1 66. 

Gunpowder, introduction of, 214, 15. 
Gu ten berg, 213. 
Har old. King of England, 112, 13. 
Hastings, battle of, n2, 13. 
Hastings, the Northman, 107,8. 

Hilde brand, 182-87. 



INDEX, 223 

Hen ry IV., Emperor, 1S4-87. 

Hen ry V. of England, 202-4. 

Henry VI. of England, 204. 

Holy Roman Empire, Si, 88-91, 181-92. 

Humanists, 212. 

Hundred Years' War, 193-208. 

Hungarians, 9S, 117. 

Huns, 23-5, 40-42, 60, 61. 

Investiture, conflict of the, 183-S7. 

Is a bel la, Queen of Castile, 219. 

It a-ly, irou crown of, 8S; at close of Middle Ages, 217. 

Je-ru sa lem, captured by the Crusader.s. 124-26; Latin kingdom of, 127; over- 
thrown bySaladin, 130; recovered (by Frederick II.) 134, 189. 

Jo an of Arc, 205-8. 

John, King of France, 198-200. 

Jus tin i-an, Emperor. 46. 

Knight, education of the, 143-49. 

Ko-ran , the, 75, 6. 

Learning, Revival of, 211-13. 

Le 0, (I., the Great) Pope, 38. 42. 

Lom bards, in Italy, 47, 8; conquered by Charlemagne, 85-S. 

Lorraine , origin of, 97. 

Lo-thair , 97- 

Lou is the Pious, 96. 

Louis VII. of France, 129. 

Louis (IX.* St., of France, 135. 

Lud -wig (the German), 97. 

Mayors of the Palace, 7S. 

Mec ca, 74. 5- 

Mer-o-vin gi-an Kings, 67-71; set aside by Pippin, So. 

Middle Ages, end of the, 209-19. 

Military Orders, 128, 29. 

Mo-hammed, 73-6. 

Mo-ham me-dans, conquests of, 76-8, 115; defeated by Charles Martel, 78; 
Charlemagne's wars against, 84, 5, 116; Crusades against, 114-36; expelled 
from Spain, 219. 

Monasteries, rise of, 54, 5; life of the, 170-80. 

Normans, no, u; conquests of, 111-13; in the Crusades, 118. 

Northmen, 98, 104-13. 

do, count of Paris, 109; King of France, 109. 

0-do-a cer, 43-5- 

Ordeals, 69-71. 

Ot to I. of Germany, 182. 

Papacy, riseof the, 51; under Gregory I., 56-8; and Empire, S8-91; 181-92, 

Paris, besieged by Northmen, loS, 9. 

Peasants, life of the, 150-58. 
Pe ter the Hermit, 117, 



2 24 INDEX. 

Pippin (the Shorty >^o. Si. 

Philip (II., Augustus), King of France, 131-34. 

Philip VI. of France, 194-98. 

Poitiers, battle of, 19S. 99. 

Printing, invention of. 213. 

Rich ard (I.> the Lion-Hearted, King of Kugland, 131-34. 

Rich ard II. of i-;ngiand, 200. 

Rob ert the Strong, 109. 

Ro land, ss- 

Rolf, tlie Northman, 109-11. 

Rome, sacked by Alaric, 32-4: by the Vandals, 38; fall of, 44; rule of Pope 

over, 57. 
Ron ce valles, 85. 
Sal'a-din, 130-34- 

Sax'ons, conquer Britain, 39, 40: conquered by Charlemagne, 83, 4. 
Schism, tlie Great, 191, 92. 
Sim e on Sty-li tes, 55- 
Spain, Vandals in, 37; conquered by West-Goths, 35; by Mohammedans, 76-8; 

Charlemagne's wars in, 85; expulsion of Mohammedans from, 219; at close 

of Middle Ages, 218, 19. 
Stil i-cho, 30-32. 
Sy-agri-us, 61, 2. 
Tar ik, 76. 
The od ric, 44-6. 
The do si-US, Emperor, 27. 
Towns, rise of the, 158-63; life of the, 163-69. 
Tours, battle of, 79. 

Turks, conquer Arabs, ii3;riseof Ottomans, 210; capture Constantinople, 210, 11. 
Ul fi las, 23. 
Urban II., Pope, 116. 
Valens, Emperor, 26. 
Van dais, 37: 8, 46. 
Venice, foundation of, 42. 
Village, life of the. 150. 58. 

Walter the Penniless, 117. 18. , 

Welsh, 4'>- 1 

Wer geld, 18, 68, 9. 

West Goths, 2535, 41, 2. 61, 64, 76-8. 

Wid u-kind, ^t. 

William the Conqueror, 112, 13. 










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